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The object of this is to induce the formation of lateral shoots and get the 

 ground covered regularly. As a rule not more than two or three main 

 branches are required for each plant. The lateral branches should be 

 pinched back at one joint above a fruit, and they will form other shoots 

 which in their turn must be treated the same. As the plants progress in 

 growth the surface soil should be loosened and covered with a layer of 

 stable manure or some other suitable material as a mulching. This will 

 not only check excessive evaporation, but also afford the plants an extra 

 supply of nourishment. If the branches are trained regularly over the 

 mulched ground, and pegged down, they will throw out roots at the 

 joints and by this means enable the parent plants to obtain extra 

 nourishment. When the branches become too crowded they should be 

 thinned out or otherwise they will become too weakly to produce fine 

 fruit. As soon as the fruit is fit for use it should be removed, whether it 

 is required or not, as if allowed to ripen the productiveness of the plant 

 will be checked. Cucumber plants are often attacked by a mildew, and 

 more especially towards the end of the summer or in damp weather. 

 Whenever there are any signs of this mildew the affected plants should 

 be dusted with powdered sulphur and a little caustic lime sprinkled over 

 the ground around them. They should also be watered about once a 

 week with a solution of common salt, in the proportion of two ounces to 

 a gallon of water. 



In order to obtain Cucumbers out of the regular season it is usual to 

 grow them with the aid of artificial heat, either in glass houses or frames 

 fitted with hot water pipes, or by the aid of stable manure, tan, and 

 other fermenting materials, in hot beds. As a matter of course a regularly 

 heated house or frame is the least troublesome means, but a hot bed is 

 more suitable for the greater number of cultivators, for economical 

 reasons. In preparing a hot-bed the dimensions of the frame that is to 

 stand upon it should be first taken, and the ground marked in accordance. 

 Four stout stakes should then be driven into the ground at the corners, 

 but a foot further out than the space that has been marked. When 

 stable manure is used it should be previously prepared by turning and 

 mixing two or three times, using water if it is too dry. If tan is used it 

 should be fresh. The prepared niaterial should be built up within the 

 stakes as solidly as possible, to the height of three or four feet. In three 

 or four days it will have sunk considerably and another twelve or eighteen 

 inches of the material may be added* The frame should then be lifted 

 on, keeping it level and square so that about a foot of the bed will 

 project all round. The frame should be left uncovered for four or five 

 days to allow the rank vapours to escape, and then a layer of rich soil 

 about six inches deep should be spread over the manure. In the centre, 

 or where the plants are to be fixed, raised mounds several inches above 

 the surface should be made. Seeds or plants may then be put in, and 

 should receive the same treatment as recommended for outdoor culture. 

 As growth progresses fresh soil should be placed round the mounds till 

 the bed becomes level or nearly so. When the heat of the beds begins to 

 decline the projecting sides should be removed and replaced with fresh 

 material in an active state of fermentation. This operation must be 



