CUCURBlTACEyE. IV. CUCLMIS. 



21 



covered, or the runners to be supported with mould; raising it 

 by degrees equal wiili the tops of the hills, all in level order 

 from 8 to 10 inches thick." Pract. Gard. p. 72. Nicol, " by the 

 time the plants have sent out runners, and the roots spread 

 quite over the hills, enlarges them ; beginning by stirring up the 

 earth in the other parts of the frame to its full depth with a 

 hand-fork or weeding-iron, breaking it fine if anywise caked by 

 the heat. To this add fresh mould, sifted or finely broken, and 

 in a dry state, so as to raise the surface nearly to the level of 

 the hills ; laying it in a sloping manner from back to front. 

 Previously he rectifies the position and level of the frames, and 

 raises them so that the glass may be eight or nine inches above 

 the mould in the centre." Kal. p. 367. 



Training. To force the cucumber into early fruit, Aber- 

 crombie directs to " stop the runners as soon as the plants have 

 made two rough leaves ; as the bud that produces the runner is 

 disclosed at the base of the second rough leaf, it may be cut off 

 or picked out, or if the runner has already started it may be 

 pinched off close. This is called stopping at the first joint, and 

 is necessary for a stronger stocky growth, and an emission of 

 fruitful laterals ; and from these other prolific runners will be 

 successively produced. The vines, without the process of stop- 

 ping, would generally be both weaker, and so deficient of fertile 

 runners, that they would sometimes extend 2 or 3 feet without 

 showing fruit. When plants which have been once stopped 

 have extended the first runners to three joints without showing 

 fruit, they are to be again stopped for the purpose of strengthen- 

 ing the plant, and disposing it for bearing. As fertile runners 

 extend, train them out regularly along the surface, fastening 

 them down neatly with pegs." M'Phail stops his plants when 

 they have two joints ; and " when the plants shoot forth again 

 after the second stopping, they seldom miss to show fruit at 

 every joint, and also a tendril ; and between the tendril and the 

 showing fruit, may clearly be seen the rudiment of anotl.er shoot, 

 and when the leading shoot has extended itself fairly past the 

 showing fruit ; so that in pinching off the tendril and the shoot, 

 the showing fruit is not injured. This stopping the leading 

 shoot stops the juices of the plant, and is the means of enabling 

 the next shoot (the rudiment of which was apparent when the 

 leading shoot was stopped,) to push vigorously, and the fruit 

 thereby also receives benefit. When the plants are come into 

 bearing, if the vines are suffered to make two joints before they 

 are stopped, at the first of these joints, as I before said, will be 

 seen showing fruit, a tendril, and the rudiment of a shoot ; but 

 at the second joint there is seldom to be seen either showing 

 fruit or the rudiment of a shoot ; but only a tendril, and the 

 rudiments of male blossoms. It is therefore evident, and but 

 reasonable, that the shoot should be stopped at the first of these 

 joints ; for were the shoot to be let run past the first joint, and 

 stopped before the second, perhaps no shoot would ever spring 

 forth at the said second joint, but only a cluster of male blos- 

 soms or leaves, which would serve for no good purpose, but 

 would rather exhaust the juices of the plant, which ought to be 

 thrown into the productive parts of it. If the plants are suf- 

 fered to bear too many fruit, that will weaken them, and in such 

 case some of the shoots -will lose their leaders, that is, the rudi- 

 ments of some of the shoots will not break forth, the numbers of 

 fruit having deprived them of their proper share of the vegeta- 

 tive juices. The rudiments of some of the shoots may also be 

 injured by accident, which sometimes prevents their pushing ; 

 but from whatever cause this happens it matters not, for by the 

 losing of its leader the shoot is rendered unfruitful, and therefore 

 should be cut entirely off. In the course of the spring and 

 summer months, several shoots break forth here and there from 

 the old ones. When too many break out, cut off the weakest of 

 them close to the old shoots, and those which remain, with re- 



gard to stopping, serve nearly in the same manner as young 

 plants. If the old shoot from which the new one bursts forth 

 lie close to the moulds, it sometimes sends forth roots from the 

 same joint from which the young shoot proceeded, by which the 

 young shoot is much invigorated, and the old plant in some 

 measure renovated. When this young plant is fairly formed on 

 the old shoot, it somewhat resembles a young plant formed and 

 struck root on a strawberry runner ; and if the shoot were to be 

 cut off on each side of the newly formed plant, and no part of the 

 plant left in the frame but itself, by proper treatment it would 

 soon extend itself all over the frame. In winter, when the 

 plants are young, and before they come into bearing, it some- 

 times happens that they send forth too many shoots ; in that 

 case, cut the weakest of them off, not suffering them to become 

 crowded and thick of vines, for that would weaken, and prevent 

 the plants from bearing so early as they ought to do. Keep the 

 leaves of the plants always regularly thin. The oldest and 

 worst of them cut off first, and cut off close to the shoot on 

 which they grow. This is necessary and right, for if any part of 

 the stalk of the leaf were to be left, it would soon putrify and 

 rot, and perhaps destroy by damp the main branch from which 

 it proceeded." Nicol. " Cucumber plants will put out runners 

 or vines, whether the heart-buds be picked out or not, which is 

 a matter of trivial concern, although much insisted on by some, 

 as being necessary to their doing so at all. For my own part I 

 never could discover any difference, and I have repeatedly made 

 the comparison in the same bed, which otherwise of course could 

 not be fair. When the vines have grown to the length of 4 or 

 5 joints, and if fruit appear on them, they may be stopped at 

 one joint above the fruit ; but otherwise, they may be allowed to 

 run the length of 7 or 8 joints, and may then be stopped, which 

 will generally cause them to push fertile shoots. These should 

 be regularly spread out, and be trained at the distance of 8 or 10 

 inches apart." 



Pruning and training cucumber plants. W. P. Vaughan, 

 (Gard. mag. 7. p. 462.) considers the productiveness of cucum- 

 ber plants as depending principally on pruning, and the age ot' 

 the seed ; his system of management is therefore as follows. 

 As he saves a few seeds annually lie has always some three years 

 old ; these he sows in shallow pans in a dung heat not under 70, 

 and by the time the plants have spread their seminal leaves, he 

 has soil and 32-sized pots ready dried in the frames, and plants 

 them so as they will just reach over the rim of the pot when 

 planted 3 or 4 in each pot, making them form a triangle or 

 square ; he then fills the pots to within half an inch of the top, 

 waters them, and keeps them in a brisk heat of from 65 to 75. 

 And as soon as they have spread their first rough leaves, he 

 picks out the leading bud from each plant close to the second 

 leaf, and in a few days afterwards each plant will put forth two 

 shoots, and they are ready for plunging in the hills without 

 breaking the balls of earth; that is, one potful in each hill. 

 When the lateral shoots have made two joints, they must be 

 stopped at the second as before, and pegged down with a piece 

 of straight stick, 6 inches long, broken half through in two 

 places, so as to form a square. Each shoot will now produce 

 two more, which never fail to show fruit at the first joint, and 

 must be stopped at the second, which operation must be done to 

 all as they make two joints. Picking off the male blossoms and 

 setting the fruit, as they open, should be done in the morning 

 just before the sun comes strong on the frames, until the weather 

 will admit of the lights being open a great part of the day ; 

 watering should also be performed at the same time, shutting the 

 frame close for a few minutes after. Cuttings taken from the 

 tops of the shoots about 4 inches long, and planted in a pot 

 deep enough to admit a flat pane of glass on the top, will strike 

 freely, and these plants so produced will come into bearing 



