502 CULTURE OF THE CUCUMBER IN A DUNG-BED. 



remain until the next morning, unless there should be a sudden change 

 in the weather, when the lights may be shut down. 



Earthing-lip. The hillocks of earth being small, every part of them 

 will be filled by the roots in the course of a week or ten days, and the 

 roots will show themselves on the surface. They should therefore be 

 covered with about two inches of fresh soil, previously warmed to the 

 temperature of the bed, by being spread out on the parts not occupied by 

 hillocks. The linings must be occasionally turned to keep up the heat ; 

 and when the inside of the frame becomes dry it should be sprinkled with 

 water when the air is taken away in the evening, by which a healthy 

 steam will be generated for the plants during the night. When a dry 

 bottom heat prevails, and the dung looks white and mouldy on the 

 surface of the bed, it should be forked over, and watered with water 

 about the same temperature as the bottom heat ought to be, and cold 

 should be carefully guarded against immediately afterwards, by giving 

 air sparingly, so as not to promote too rapid an evaporation. The 

 heat of the dung will then escape freely, and as the roots in the hillocks 

 are above the dung they will not easily be injured by the heat. 



Linings of Cucumber Beds, and their Management. Linings should 

 be turned over once in eight or ten days, to keep them in a regular state 

 of fermentation, especially from November to February, inclusive. 

 They should not, however, be all turned at once : the front should be 

 done one week, and the back the next, and so on. The ends will not 

 require turning so often, provided the heat keeps up to what is 

 necessary, according to the season. To dry the inside of the frame in 

 December, January, and February, let the linings be one foot above the 

 level of the surface of the bed, which will be sufficient ; in March and 

 April they may be lowered in proportion to the increased power of the 

 sun's heat. During the operation of turning, should there appear any 

 part too much decayed, let it be removed, and its place filled with fresh 

 linings, which should be put on the top of the old, in order to draw up 

 the heat from it, and to keep up a good warmth round the frame ; besides, 

 when the new linings are above the bed, there will be no danger of 

 their rank steam getting to the plants. New linings should never be 

 allowed to mix with the old ones until they have become quite sweet ; 

 for you must, on no account, allow rancid heat to be confined at the 

 bottom of your linings. Attention to these directions must be con- 

 tinued until June, if it is desired to keep the plants in a healthy state ; 

 and although after the month of March the turnings need not be quite 

 so frequent, a good warmth must be kept up, or the plants will not 

 swell off their fruit kindly. 



Water. In the winter months, from the moisture of the fermenting 

 material, and of the outer air, and the absence of solar heat, they will 

 require but little from the water-pot. The surface of the bed, near 

 the frame, will occasionally become dry from the heat of the linings 

 passing upwards through it ; and when that occurs, let it be sprinkled 

 with water through a fine-rosed pot, just before covering up ; and on 

 fine mornings, about ten o'clock, give to the soil in which the plants 

 are growing a little water in a tepid state. In November, December, 



