CUCUMBER. 85 



the sun and air, as often as the weather will permit. When 

 they have attained the height of four or five inches, they 

 should be gently fastened down to the soil, in different di- 

 rections ; and the branches afterwards produced ought to 

 be treated in a similar manner, as it will much contribute 

 to forward their maturity. In the course of a month the 

 flowers will appear, and, shortly after, the rudiments of the 

 fruit. The glasses should now be carefully covered during 

 the night, and the plants gently sprinkled with water in the 

 day time. These will produce fruit till midsummer, and 

 may be succeeded by a second crop, which is to be raised 

 nearly in the same manner as the earlier cucumbers, with 

 this only difference, that the former should be sown toward 

 the end of March, or the beginning of April, and that it 

 requires less care and attention." Dom. Encyc. 



The smallest degree of heat for forcing cucumber plants, 

 at the coldest time of night, is 58 degrees ; and the greatest 

 heat necessary in the day time is 65 degrees. 



" Well preparing the dung is of the greatest importance 

 in forcing the cucumber, and if not done before it is made 

 into a bed, it cannot be done after, as it requires turning and 

 watering to cause it to ferment freely and sweetly ; fresh 

 dung from the stable will require at least six weeks' prepa- 

 ration before it will be fit to receive the plants. A month 

 before it is made mto a bed, it should be laid into a heap, 

 turned three times, and well shaken to pieces with a fork, 

 and the outsides of the heap turned into the middle, and 

 the middle to the outsides, that the whole may have a regu- 

 lar fermentation ; and if any appear dry, it should be made 

 wet, keeping it always between the two extremes of wet 

 and dry. A dry spot of ground should be chosen to pre- 

 pare the dung on, that the water may drain away from the 

 bottom of the heap. The dung having been a month in 

 heap, I make the bed as follows : I form a stratum one foot 

 high, of wood of any kind, but if large the better ; (old roots 

 of trees, or any other of little value will do ;) this is to drain 

 the water from the bottom of the bed ; for, after a month's 

 preparation, with every care, it will frequently heat itself dry, 

 and require water in large quantities, which, if not allowed 

 to pass off freely, will cause an unwholesome steam to rise, 

 in which the cucumber-plant will not grow freely : on this 

 bottom of wood I make the bed, four feet high, with dung, 

 gently beating it down with a fork : this is done about the 1st 

 November, and by the month of February, the four feet of 

 dung will not be more than two feet thick, which, with the 

 8 



