THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



139 



extreme aridity to irrigation, as show by 

 the California experiments, and seems to 

 combine a remarkable number of virtues, 

 including great frost resistance, late 

 growth, drouth resistance, succulence, 

 palatability and heavy yield, sand-binding 

 qualities and the habit of spreading freely. 

 Farmers desiring to know more of this 

 plant or obtain seed would do well to write 

 to the Secretary of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington. 



PROFIT IN CUCUMBERS. 

 Cucumber growing is a much neglected 

 yet very profitable industry. Market gar- 

 deners seldom harvest less than 150 bushels, 

 and some claim to get 500 bushels from an 

 acre. The early crop usually sells at 

 from $1.00 to $2.50 per dozen, and the 

 late ones bring about half that price. A 

 bushel of pickling cucumbers averages 200 

 specimens. I have seen professional 

 growers who said they took 100,000 pickels 

 from an acre. If sold on the market, the 

 income will average $200.00, but if put up 

 in barrels and made into the marketable 

 pickels of commerce, the crop is worth 

 double that amount. Southern growers 

 report an average of 500 crates of 80 to 90 

 specimens to the acre. These crates are 

 sent to the northern cities, and sold at 

 $1.00 to $5.00 per crate. 



The cucumber requires a light sandy 

 soil, plenty of sunshine and moisture, and 

 good care in growing and harvesting. The 

 ground should be free of weeds and plowed 

 in the fall or winter. For early crop the 

 planting should begin as soon as danger 

 from frost is over. If hills are made about 

 four feet apart either way, and cultivation 

 given before the vines begin to run, the 

 growth will cover the ground. A good 

 plan is to dig holes one foot or more in 

 depth, with spade or shovel, where the 

 hills are to be, and fill partly with rotted 

 leaves or vegetable mold. Then scatter a 

 handful of fertilizers containing 8 per 

 cent, potash. 8 per cent, phosphoric acid 

 and 3 per cent, nitrogen. The seed should 

 then be planted in loose surface soil, 



placed over this, at the rate of six to 

 eight seeds to the hill. 



When the plants are up and growing 

 nicely they should be thinned to two in a 

 hill, and cultivated with shallow plow or 

 regular garden weeders. If given too 

 much water in irrigation, or the land is 

 not well drained to carry away excessive 

 rainfall, while the plants are young, the 

 crop will be a failure. Cultivation while 

 the dew is on the vines or just after a rain 

 will cause the leaves to rust and blight. 

 An application of cotton seed meal, or one 

 tablespoonful of nitrate of soda sprinkled 

 around the plants and hoed in will prove 

 beneficial, as a top fertilizer. If the 

 plants are troubled with insects a slight 

 spraying with arsenical compounds, in the 

 same proportion as used for the aphis or 

 apple trees, will prove effective. 



Cucumbers for pickles may be planted 

 as late as the middle of June in most lo- 

 calities, and the later varieties should be 

 five feet apart, with two plants in a hill. 

 There are several good varieties, for a be^ 

 ter description of which the seed catalogues 

 are the best books of reference. The Early 

 Frame and White Spine are favorites for 

 quick growth, maturing in about 60 days. 

 The Long Green, Jersey Pickle and sev- 

 eral others are standards for pickling. They 

 should be cut from the vines every second 

 or third day, using a sharp knife or shears 

 for the purpose. Picking should never be 

 .done while the vine 5 or leaves are moist, 

 as the fruits will be lessened from such 

 handling. If tae pickles are left on the 

 vines until they begin to ripen, the yield 

 will be light. 



To make good salt pickles the small 

 specimens of uniform size must be selected. 

 Mix four quarts of salt in two gallons of 

 water and put in the barrel first. Then 

 carefully wash and pack in the cucumbers 

 and add four quarts of salt to each two 

 bushels or 400 cucumbers. Put the head 

 of the barrel over them and weight with a 

 rock or something of about twenty-five 

 pounds. If the barrel should leak any re- 

 place the brine, at the rate of four quarts 



