CUCURBITACEjE. 



IV. CUCUMIS. 



23 



by any of the ordinary methods of treatment." The beds are 

 made in December or January, the hot horse-dung having been 

 previously turned and watered 5 or 6 times. Before earthing 

 it, round flat mats, about 15 inches in diameter, formed by coil- 

 ing up a band of straw, 1 inch in diameter, and 10 feet long, 

 are to be prepared and placed on the dung, under the centre of 

 each light. Rye straw is preferred for these mats, as it does 

 not encourage mice. A bushel of compost, consisting of loam 

 and rotten dung, is placed on each mat, and 1 plant in prefer- 

 ence to more, on the top of each hillock ; the top of the plant 

 should be left about 3 inches from the glass ; the mould should 

 then be dressed up round the hillock, and be pressed close to 

 the roots, and within 1 inch of the seed-leaves of the plant ; 

 these, at no time of earthing, should be covered, for this is 

 very apt to cause canker. The earth should be kept within 

 the bounds of the straw mat, and not be suffered to mix with 

 the dung, as that would cause a burning, which is not only trou- 

 blesome, but in many instances fatal to the prosperity of the 

 plant ; because if the earth is once burnt, its vegetative quality 

 is destroyed, and water will have no effect on it. The only 

 remedy in such a case is to remove the mould, fork up and 

 water the dung, lay on a little rye straw, and replace the earth. 

 After ridging out, from one quarter to one inch of air is given 

 in the day, and about one quarter during the night. The cover- 

 ing must be very slight for the first 3 or 4 weeks, and must 

 not hang over tlie sides. " The heat must be kept up by aug- 

 menting the linings once a-week, turning over and watering 

 them when they heat so as to become dry. The bed inside the 

 frame will require forking up about 9 inches deep, 3 times a- 

 week ; the hillocks at the same time should be examined, and 

 a round pointed stick, of about an inch in diameter and 18 

 inches long, must be thrust about 12 inches in the dung, under 

 the straw mat, making 5 or 6 perforations under each hillock. 

 Into each of the holes so formed, pour from the spout of a 

 watering-pot as much water as the state of the bed seems to re- 

 quire ; this may be ascertained from the facility with which the 

 perforator goes into the bed. If the bed is husky or burning, 

 the stick will go in with difficulty, and then a large pot of water 

 is required to a hillock ; on the contrary, if the bed is in a free 

 state of working, the perforator will go into it very easily, and 

 then a sprinkling from the rose of the pot will be sufficient." 

 A great object of Mr. Allen seems to be to sweeten, rot, and 

 moisten the dung under the frame for the roots of the plants, 

 while the heat is principally supplied by the linings. " The 

 dung," he says, " from the continued forking and watering, will 

 become in a fine state to receive the roots of the plants ; these, 

 after passing through the proper depth of compost, placed over 

 the dung, which is about 8 inches, will readily strike into the 

 dung, and bear a productive crop of cucumbers throughout the 

 summer, without their leaves flagging or requiring any shade. 

 For ascertaining the proper periods to make additions to the 

 earth, the best criterion is the appearance of the roots through 

 the sides of the hillock. This should be earthed over about 3 

 inches, each time forking out the dung 2 inches below the mat, 

 to give a greater depth of earth each time of performing the 

 operation. The last time this is done, the depth of mould at 

 the back of the frame should be 20 inches. It will be necessary 

 to raise the frame and lights as the plants advance in growth." 

 Water should be given plentifully 3 times a-week, without wet- 

 ting the leaves or fruit, " pouring it against the back of the 

 frame, for the mould will dry faster against the back than the 

 front, in consequence of the heat being there greater, and the 

 air being admitted there." " In pruning, the runners should 

 not be cut or thinned out, the tops only should be pinched, and 

 at every joint, beginning where the plant has 2 rough leaves, and 

 the second rough leaf is about an inch in diameter. That will 



cause the plant to produce fruit and a fresh runner in succession 

 at every joint; it will likewise add to the strength of the plant." 

 Pinch off" the tendrils and male blossoms, and fecundate arti- 

 ficially in the early part of the season. The sort of cucumber 

 which Mr. Allen finds most productive is the Southgate, and 

 he prefers seed 3 or 4 years old to new seed. Loud. gard. mag. 

 vol. l.p. 416, 417. 



Insects and diseases. The thrips sometimes attack early cu- 

 cumbers, and are to be destroyed by fumigation. The red spider 

 rarely makes its appearance ; when he does water must have 

 been improperly withheld. Some soils produce canker in the 

 shoots, especially where they branch from the main stem. When 

 this is the case, the only resource is to renew the soil and the 

 plants. 



Growing the cucumber under hand-glasses. The following 

 method is given by M'Phail as that generally practised : "The 

 seeds are sown some time about the middle of April in a cucum- 

 ber or melon-bed, and when they come up, they are potted out 

 into small pots, 2 or 3 plants in each pot, and are kept properly 

 watere-?., and stopped at the first and second joints. About the 

 middle of May, a warm situation, where the mould is very rich 

 is pitched on, and a trench is dug out about 2 feet deep, 3 feet 

 broad, and the length is proportioned according to the number 

 of glasses it is intended for. This trench is filled with good 

 warm dung, and when the dung has come to its full heat, it is 

 covered over with 8, 10, or 12 inches' depth of rich mould. The 

 glasses are then set upon it about 3 feet distant from each other, 

 and when the mould gets warm under them, the plants are 

 turned out of the pots with their balls whole, and plunged into 

 the mould under the glasses, and a little water given them to 

 settle the mould about their roots, the glasses set over them, 

 and after they have made roots, and begin to grow, jn fine days 

 the glasses raised a little on one side, to let the plants have the 

 free air ; and as the weather gets warmer and warmer, air is 

 given more plentifully to harden the plants, so that they may 

 be able to bear the open air and run from under the glasses. 

 When the plants begin to fill the glasses, they are trained out 

 horizontally, and the glasses are set upon bricks or such like, 

 to bear them from the plants. After this the plants require 

 nothing more but to be supplied with water when the summer 

 showers are not sufficient, and to stop them when they run too 

 thin of branches, and thin them of leaves or branches when 

 they are likely to become over-crowded. In warm summers 

 and in warm situations, by this mode of management, the plants 

 will bear plentifully for about 2 months, provided they be not 

 attacked by insects or weakened by diseases." Abercrombie 

 describes the practice somewhat different, but with his usual 

 detail and order. He says, " To have a general summer crop, 

 to fruit in hot-bed ridges under hand-glasses, sow some seed of 

 the long prickly kind in a hot-bed, under a frame or hand-glass, 

 or in any cucumber hot-bed in cultivation, about the middle of 

 March, or thence till the middle of April. When the plants 

 have been up 3, 4, or 5 days, prick some in the same or another 

 hot-bed, 3 or 4 inches asunder. A portion may be put in small 

 pots, 3 plants in each, and plunged in a bed. Give water, and 

 shade from the sun till they take root; and manage as for the 

 frame crop. In 3 or 4 weeks, when advanced in the first rough 

 leaves, about 2 inches broad, and stopped at the first joint as 

 directed in the early crop, the plants should be ridged out, that 

 is, transplanted into hot-bed ridges, under hand-glasses, to re- 

 main for fruiting. The period for this may fluctuate from the 

 middle of April to the beginning of May. Having a sufficient 

 quantity of prepared dung, make a hot-bed on the level ground, 

 &| or 4 feet wide, and 2-|- feet high, the length as required, ac- 

 cording to the number of hand-glasses intended. Earth it at 

 top 6 or 8 inches thick, and place the hand-glasses along the 



