Vegetables with Edible Fruits 167 



that this will differ with the variety. If by chance some 

 have been left too long on the vine, they should be pulled 

 as soon as possible. A ripening cucumber saps the vitality 

 of a vine to a remarkable degree. Culls and wormy 

 fruits should also be removed and destroyed immediately. 

 Sometimes culls can be sold in the local market to advan- 

 tage, but it will not pay to ship them. 



Cucumbers are usually shipped in special carriers. 

 (Plate XI.) They should be picked while dry, taken to the 

 packing house, sorted and crated. They are laid in quickly 

 and evenly, pressed down with a lever, and the top fastened. 

 The product should not be bruised or loose enough to 

 shake in the crate in transit. It is necessary to pick a 

 field three times a week. The amount that an acre will 

 produce seems incredible to those who have not raised a 

 full crop ; while 200 or 300 crates may be considered a 

 fair crop, yields of 600, 800, and even 900 crates to the 

 acre, have been reported. 



Saving cucumber seed. 



The seed may be kept some years without serious loss of 

 vitality, though fresh seed is preferred. If the shipping 

 season should be short, the remainder of the crop may be 

 allowed to ripen. Saving seed is simple, easy and prof- 

 itable. The ripe cucumbers are gathered, of course only 

 the perfectly formed ones being selected. The fruit is 

 cut into halves lengthways, and the seed and pulp scraped 

 out into a barrel, which may be filled half or three-fourths 

 full but not more, as otherwise the fermenting would 

 cause it to run over. The material is allowed to remain 

 in the barrel from two to five days to ferment, when the 



