503 



CULTURE OF THE CUCUMBER IN POTS. 



in December, it would be necessary in latitude 53 to place the glass 

 at an angle of 75 28'; in January, 71 52'; in February, 62 29'; and 

 in March, 51 41'. 



Fig. 354, to scale of a quarter of an inch to a foot, is a copy of the section 

 given by Mr. Ayres; in which a is the tan-bed in which the pots contain- 

 ing the plants are plunged ; b is the trellis to which the plants are trained; 

 c is the pathway under which is a flue, with the pipe of an Arnott's stove, 

 or, better still, hot-water pipes passing through it, and d is the ground 

 line. The flue should be divided into four equal compartments, the 

 first and third of which, by keeping the pipes wholly or partially im- 

 mersed in water, might be made to produce moist heat, while the 



Fig. 354. 



others will produce dry heat ; 

 so that by tilting or removing 

 the covering tiles of any of the 

 compartments, the humidity of 

 the atmosphere will be placed 

 quite under the command of the 

 attendant. 



Such a house as fig. 354 

 might be heated by hot-water 

 pipes by Corbett's open gutters 

 or iron tanks at very little ex- 

 pense. The pit might be filled 

 with tan or leaves for plunging 

 the pots in in winter and spring, 

 and in summer with soil in 

 which the plants might be 

 grown without pots. The great 

 advantage of this house is, that, 

 let the weather be what it will, 

 the plants can always be pro- 

 perly attended to and treated. 



Treatment of the Plants. 

 The cucumber, Mr. Ayres ob- 

 serves, will grow in any soil, 

 even old tan or brick-rubbish, provided liquid manure is supplied. 

 For pot-culture use turfy loam two parts, thoroughly decomposed 

 dung two parts, leaf-mould two parts, and very sandy turfy peat 

 two parts. The whole thoroughly incorporated immediately before 

 using, but not sifted. Manure-water is prepared by steeping two 

 pecks of sheep or deer dung, one peck of pigeons' dung, and half 

 a peck of soot, in a hogshead of boiling rain-water ; in two days it 

 will be fit for use. When applied, it is diluted with rain-water, and 

 used alternately with clear water from March to October. The great 

 secret of keeping the cucumber in vigorous growth in pots, Mr. Ayres 

 continues, is the use of manure- water. The plants should be raised 

 from seed sown on the first of August, so as to be fit for planting in 

 fruiting pots in the first week of September. These pots should not 

 be less than sixteen inches wide, and eighteen inches deep. Two 

 plants should be placed in each pot, but the leading shoot must not be 



Mr. A yress Cucumber-house. 

 (Scale 4 of an inch to a foot.) 



