403 



C U C 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



cue 



be cautiously done, so as to guard against the cold winds 

 which usually blow at that season. A mat or canvass ought 

 to be hung over the opening made by the raising of the 

 glasses, to prevent the cold from rushing in too violently 

 If the weather prove inclement, and the heat of the bee 

 decline, there should be some hot dung laid round the sides 

 to renew the heat, which must not be suffered to fail ; for as 

 the plants have been tenderly brought up, the cold would 

 soon destroy them. In this bed the plants may remain three 

 weeks or a month, in which time, if they have been properly 

 managed, they will have acquired sufficient strength to be 

 put out altogether; therefore a proper quantity of dung 

 should be mixed, and turned before-hand, for making the 

 beds into which they are now to be removed. The quantity 

 usually allowed is one good cart-load to each light, which 

 should be well mixed and turned over in the manner before 

 directed, and then wheeled into a trench of the length and 

 breadth of the intended bed, and worked and covered with 

 old cow-dung as before. The frames and glasses should 

 then be put on the bed, and raised every day to let the steam 

 pass off, and in about three days the bed will be in a proper 

 temperature of heat to receive the plants. The dung should 

 then be covered over with dry earth, four inches thick, or 

 eight inches in the middle of the bed, which should be done 

 at least twenty-four hours before the plants are removed 

 into it, in order that the earth may be properly warmed. 

 The plants should then be carefully shaken out of the pots, 

 preserving all the earth to their roots, and placed on the 

 top of the earth in the middle of the bed. Two, or at most 

 three, of these plants will be sufficient for each light; they 

 should be placed seven or eight inches asunder, but never 

 close together. There should always be a magazine of 

 good earth laid under cover to keep it 'dry, for the earthing 

 of these beds ; for if it be taken up wet it will chill the beds, 

 and occasion great damps therein ; it is therefore quite 

 necessary to have a sufficient quantity of earth prepared long 

 before it is used. When the plants are settled, they must 

 have proper air and water, but not too much of either. The 

 glasses should be kept well covered with mats every night, to 

 keep up the warmth of the bed, and some fresh earth should 

 be introduced at different times, which should be laid at 

 some distance from the roots of the plants until it be warmed, 

 and should then be drawn up round the heap of earth in 

 which they grow, to increase its depth. By this method of 

 supplying the earth, the whole bed will be covered nine or 

 ten inches deep with it, which will cherish the roots of the 

 plants, and prevent them from hanging their leaves in the 

 heat of the day. It will however be necessary to raise the 

 frames, after the earth has been laid to the full thickness on 

 the bed, otherwise the glasses will be too close to the plants ; 

 but when this is done, there must be care taken to stop the 

 earth again very close round the side of the frame, to prevent 

 the cold air from entering under them. When the fruit 

 appears, many male flowers will also come out on different 

 parts of the plant ; but as the female flowers have the young 

 fmit situated under them, and the male have none, they are 

 thus easily distinguished, especially as the male have three 

 stamina in their centre, with their antherce, which are loaded 

 with a golden powder. This is designed to impregnate the fe- 

 male flowers, and when the plants are fully exposed to the open 

 air, the soft breezes of wind convey this male powder or farina 

 from the male to the female flowers ; but if the air be too much 

 excluded at this season, the plants will drop off for want of 

 it. IJees have been observed to creep into the frames when 

 the glasses were raised to admit the air, and being acciden- 

 tally shut in, have supplied the want of those gentle breezes 



of wind, by carrying the farina of the male flowers oa their 

 hind legs into the female flowers, where they have left a suffi- 

 cient quantity to impregnate them. These insects therefore 

 have taught the gardener a method to supply the want of tree 

 air, which is so indispensable in the natural way of ai . 

 plishing that purpose. This is done by carefully gathering the 

 male flowers at the time when the farina is fully formed, ami 

 carrying them to the female flowers, turning them down over 

 them, and with the nail of one finger gently striking the out- 

 side of the male, so as to cause the powder on the summits to 

 scatter into the female flowers, by which means the crop is 

 much more certain to be produced. After the Cucumbers are 

 thus fairly set, if the bed be of a proper temperatureof warmth, 

 they will soon swell, and become fit for u.-e ; it is therefore 

 only necessary to water the plants properly, which is doiif 

 by sprinkling the water all over the bed, for the roots will 

 extend to the sides of the bed ; therefore, those who wish to 

 continue these plants as long as possible in vigour, should 

 add a sufficient thickness of dung and of earth all round the 

 sides of the beds, so as to enlarge them to nearly double 

 their first width ; this will supply nourishment to the roots of 

 the plants, whereby they may be continued fruitful during 

 great part of the summer ; whereas, when this is not prac- 

 tised, the roots of the plants, when they have reached the 

 side of the beds, are dried by the wind and sun, so that they 

 languish and decay long before their time< In gardens where 

 there are no stoves, the seeds should be sown upon a well-pre- 

 pared hot-bed. It should be sown in halfpenny pots, that they 

 may be easily removed from one bed to another, if the heat 

 should decline; or raised up, if the heat should prove too 

 great. When they are come up, a fresh hot-bed must be 

 prepared, as was before directed, and the after-management 

 of the plants must be nearly the. same ; but as the steam of 

 the hot-beds frequently occasions great damps, the gh, 

 must be frequently turned, and have the condensed moisture 

 wiped off them, which is very destructive to the plants on 

 which it fall-, (arc also must be had to let in fresh air at 

 all proper times, and also to keep the bed hi a proper tem- 

 perature of heat ; for as there is no fire to w r arm the air, that 

 must be supplied by the heat of the dung; and finally, the 

 plants may be ridged out as before directed. In about a 

 month after the\ are ridged out, you may expect to see the 

 beginnings of fruit, which is often preceded by male flowers, 

 which ignorant persons sometimes pull off. calling them 

 jlossoms ; which is very absurd, as these flowers are of aliso- 

 ute service to promote the welfare of the fruit, which 

 often falls away and conies to nothing, in consequence of the 

 removal of these false blossoms, as they are rii'i. uL.usly term- 

 ed. Neither ought the vines to be pruned., as is the custom 

 of unskilful people, especially \\iicn they are too luxuriant, 

 which often occurs when the seeds were fresh, or of tin- 

 year's saving, and the plants in good heart. When this is 

 he case, it is very proper to pull up one of the plants before 

 t has run so far as to entangle with the other; for it often 

 lappens that one or two plants, when they are vigorous, are 

 letter than four or five; for when the frame is too much 

 rowded with vines, the fruit is seldom either so good or so 

 >lentifiil as when there is a moderate quantity of shoots, tor 

 the air being thereby excluded from the young fruit, the) are 

 consequently liable to decay and fall off. The gla.ssrs must 

 >e covered every night, and during the extreme heat ot tin: 

 lay ; and uheu the vines are spread so as to cover the hot- 

 >ed, it will be very serviceable, when you water them 

 sprinkle them all over gently, so as not to hurt the lc.. 

 jut never to do this when the sun is very hot ; or the cxhal;iti- 

 )iis, \\ liich his beams might draw up from tli is w atering, would 



