CUCUMBER 293 



own juice. When wanted for use they are freshened out 

 in water, which causes those that are shriveled to swell up 

 plump; they are then put in vinegar. Cucumber pickles 

 are easily kept until the following spring in this way, but 

 when kept later than spring they get soft and are not so 

 desirable. Cucumbers will stand a great amount of dry 

 weather without injury, if frequently cultivated. 



Starting cucumbers in cold frames and hotbeds and then 

 transplanting them to the open ground when all danger of 

 frost is over is a common practice where they are wanted 

 for early use. Under this system the seed is sown in 

 old strawberry boxes, tomato cans, flower pots, etc. Square 

 pieces of inverted sod are also used for the same purpose, 

 four or five seeds being sown on each piece five inches 

 square and covered with good soil. The plants in this latter 

 case root into the sod and are easily moved. 



Starting cucumbers this way has the merit of advancing 

 the period of maturity of the plants, and as they are well 

 started when set out there is little danger of attacks of the 

 striped beetle, and the fruit is earlier than when sown in the 

 open ground. In following out this plan, the seed should not 

 be sown before the first of May, or the plants will be too 

 large to move well. Before the plants are removed from 

 the frames to the open ground, they should be exposed 

 without the sash for several days until well hardened off. 

 When these plants are moved to the open ground, they 

 should be set rather deeper than they grew in the frames. 

 They then are cultivated the same as plants from seed 

 sown in the hill. 



Another way for advancing the cucumber season when 

 hotbed sash is used, is by planting a hill of them very early 

 in the center of each sash of the hotbed, using the 

 rest of each sash for an early vegetable crop. The cucum- 



