328 VEGETABLE FORCING 



not necessary to get a good crop of fruit. The cucumbers 

 are easily harvested as they hang under the trellis. 



The upright form of training (Figs. 110 and 112) is 

 unquestionably the most popular system used in the 

 United States. It provides for a single stem that may be 

 trained only a few feet high, or it may be grown to a 

 height of 8 feet or more. Ordinarily it is not more than 

 7 feet in height. Each lateral is generally pinched beyond 

 the first node, where one or more fruits nearly always 

 develop, and cucumbers are also borne along the main 

 stem. Some growers allow considerable branching over- 

 head, where the vines are supported by wires, and such 

 branches produce fruit late in the season or during the 

 latter period of harvesting. This plan is popular in the 

 Boston district, where the rows run across the house in- 

 stead of lengthwise. Wires are stretched overhead the 

 full width of the house and fastened with screw hooks or 

 perhaps secured to pipes. A few light wires which are 

 above the heavier cross wires run lengthwise, thus form- 

 ing a sort of trellis. Wires are also run across the beds 

 at the ground, below the overhead cross wires, and they 

 are secured to staples driven in the wooden side boards 

 of the beds. Several-ply jute twine is stretched for each 

 plant, between the lower and upper wires, and the plant 

 as it grows is quickly twined about the string, no tying 

 being necessary. This system of training is well adapted 

 to the American type. 



Some growers prefer not to allow the plants to branch 

 at the top. This results in a more intensive system. For 

 example, in one section of Massachusetts, where the 

 houses are comparatively small and there are many of 

 them, the plants are set, rather early in the fall, on raised 

 beds with bottom heat. In some instances the plants are 

 not permitted to attain a height of more than 4 feet. 



The soil on the beds is about a foot deep and the plants 

 are liberally fed with liquid manure to prevent them from 



