CUCUMBER 



329 



becoming exhausted. With such an intensive system, and 

 with soil that is fairly heavy, the fall-set plants are kept 

 in bearing until June or July. The closest and most care- 

 ful attention is required to accomplish this, and the sys- 

 tem does not appeal to extensive growers of greenhouse 

 cucumbers. 



Fig. Ill represents a system of support devised by a 

 prominent Toledo grower. A strip of wood ^ by 1 inch 

 and about 7 feet long is placed beside each plant. A thin 

 block 3 inches long is nailed onto the lower end to pre- 

 vent the strip from sinking into the ground. The tops of 

 the strips are secured to wires running lengthwise of the 

 house. Pairs of nails 

 are driven through 

 the flat way of the 

 strip at intervals of a 

 foot apart and the 

 nails are Y^. inch 

 apart. One nail is 

 twice as long as the 

 other, so that it can 

 be bent at right 

 angles. The stem of 

 the cucumber is 

 placed between the 

 nails, and when the 

 bent nail is turned 

 until it rests upon 

 the other nail, the 

 stem is held securely 

 in place without any 

 tying. 



Pollination. The 

 cucumber is monoe- 

 cious, that is, the Fig. 116. Single stem training of cucumbers. 



sexual organs, pistils lo of male and female flowers and the 



