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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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403 



n>y the plants. Culture of Cucumbers under Hand or 

 <il:ia.ifs. In the middle of March or a little later, accord- 

 i.) tin- earliness of the season, you must put in your seeds 

 IT under a bell-glass, or in the upper side of your early 

 hot-bed; and when the plants are come up, they should be 

 pricked upon another moderate hot-bed, which should be co- 

 verod with bell or hand glasses, placed as closely as possible to 

 each other : the plants should be pricked in two inches apart, 

 observing: to shade and water them until they have taken new 

 rool, which will be in a very short time. This is to be un- 

 derstood of such places where a great quantity of plants are 

 d, which is constantly the case in the kitchen-gardens 



near London ; but where a family only is to be supplied, 

 there mtiy be plants enough raised on the upper side of the 

 beds, where the first crop is growing ; or if the vines should 

 have extended themselves so far as to cover the whole bed, 

 \\ hereby there will not be sufficient room to prick the plants, 

 a single light will contain such a number of youngplants for 

 planting out in ridges, as will supply the largest family with 

 Cucumbers during the latter part of the season. In severe 

 weather, and at night, the glasses should be covered with 

 mats, but raised during the day in hot weather, on the oppo- 

 site side from the wind, to give air to the plants, which will 

 greatly strengthen them ; but they must be very sparingly 

 watered while young. By the middle of April these plants 

 will be strong enough to ridge out; you must therefore be 

 provided with a heap of new dung, in proportion to the 

 quantity of holes you design to plant, allowing one load to six 

 holes. When the dung is lit for use, dig a trench about two 

 feet four inches wide, and in length just as you please, or the 

 place will allow; if the soil be dry, it should be ten inches 

 deep ; but if wet, very little in the ground, levelling the earth 

 in the bottom, then putting in the dung, mixing and stirring 

 up every part of it, as was directed for the first hot-beds, 

 laying it close and even. When this is done, you must make 

 holes about eight inches over, and six deep, just in the 

 middle of the ridge, and three feet and a half distance from 

 each other ; but if there be more than one ridge, eight feet 

 and a half from each other; fill the holes with good light 

 earth, put a stick into the middle of each for a mark, and 

 afterwards cover the ridge over with earth about four inches 

 thick, laying the same thickness of it round the sides. When 

 the earth is thus levelled smooth, set the glasses upon the 

 holes, leaving them close down about twenty-four hours, in 

 which time the earth in the holes will be sufficiently warmed 

 to receive the plants; then stir up the earth of these holes 

 with your hand, hollowing it out in the form of a bason, in 

 each of which set three or four plants, taking care to shade 

 and water them until they have again taken root ; they must 

 afterwards have air admitted to them, in proportion to the 

 heat of the weather, by raising the glasses on the side oppo- 

 site to the wind, which must only be done in the middle of 

 ( lay ; the glasses should then be raised by a forked stick 

 on the south side, in height proportioned to the growth of 

 the plants, that they may not be scorched by the sun, which 

 will also harden and prepare them to endure the open air, 

 to which, notwithstanding, they ought not to be prematurely 

 exposed, as they are often killed by the morning frosts in 

 May. Towards the latter end of that month, when the wea- 

 ther appears settled and warm, turn your plants down gently 

 out of the glasses, not in hot sunny weather, but when the 

 sky is cloudy, with an appearance of rain. In doing this, 

 raise the glasses either upon bricks or forked sticks, upon 

 which they may stand securely at four or five inches from the 

 ground, that the plants may lie under them without bruising. 

 The glasses should not be wholly removed till the latter end 



of June or the beginning of July, for they will preserve the 

 moisture much longer at the roots than when the plants are 

 exposed to the open air. About three weeks after you have 

 turned the plants out of the glasses, they will have made a 

 considerable progress, especially in favourable weather : the 

 spaces of ground between the ridges should then be dug up, 

 making it very even, and laying out the runners of the vines 

 in exact order, taking care not to disturb them too much, 

 nor to break or bruise the leaves : this digging of the ground 

 will loosen it, and make it more penetrable for the roots of 

 the plants to strike into, and at the same time make the sur- 

 face of the earth more suitable to the vines that run upon it. 

 After this there will be no farther care needful, except to 

 keep them clear from weeds, and to water them as often as 

 they shall require, which is when they hang their greater 

 leaves. The ridges thus managed, will continue to produce 

 large quantities of fruit, from June until the latter end of 

 August, after which time the coldness of the season renders 

 them unwholesome, especially if the autumn prove wet. From 

 these ridges it is common to select Cucumbers for seed, re- 

 serving two or three of the fairest fruit upon each hole, never 

 leaving above one upon a plant, and that situated near the 

 root, for if more be left, they will weaken the plant so much 

 as greatly to diminish the size and quantity of the other fruit. 

 Those persons who value themselves upon producing Cucum- 

 bers very early in the season, generally leave three or four 

 of the first produce of the earliest crop when the fruit is pro- 

 mising, and the seeds of these early fruit are generally pre- 

 ferred to any other for the first crop; these should be situ- 

 ated near the main stem of the plant near the root : they should 

 remain upon the vines till the middle or end of August, that 

 the seeds may be perfectly ripe; and when you gather them 

 from the vines it will be proper to set the fruit in a row upright 

 against a hedge or wall, where they may remain until the outer 

 covers begin to decay, at which time you should cut them 

 open, and scrape out the seeds, together with the pulp, into 

 a tub, which ought to be afterwards covered with a board, to 

 exclude dirt of every kind ; let it remain eight or ten days 

 in the tub, observing to stir it well to the bottom every day 

 with a long stick, in order to rot the pulp, that it may be 

 easily separated from the seeds ; then pour some water into 

 the tub, stirring it well about, which will raise the scum to 

 the top, but the seeds will settle to the bottom, so that by 

 two or three times pouring in water, and afterwards straining 

 it off, they will be perfectly cleared from the pulp : the seeds 

 ought then to be spread upon a mat, and exposed three or 

 four days to the open air till perfectly dry, when they 

 may be put up in bags, and hung up in a dry place out of the 

 reach of vermin, where they will keep good for several years, 

 but are generally preferred when three or four years old, as 

 being apt to produce less vigorous but more fruitful plants. 

 CuUure of Cucumbers in the open Ground. The season for 

 sowing these is towards the latter end of May, when the wea- 

 ther is settled; the ground where they are commonly sown 

 is between Cauliflowers, in the wide rows between which, four 

 feet and a half space is allowed at planting : in these rows 

 square holes should be dug three feet and a half distance 

 from each other, breaking the earth well with a spade, and 

 afterwards smoothing and hollowing it into the form of a 

 bason with your hand, then put eight or nine seeds into the 

 middle of each hole, covering them over with earth half an inch 

 thick; and if it should be very dry weather, it will be proper 

 to water the holes gently in a day or two after the seeds are 

 sown, in order to facilitate their vegetation. In five or six 

 days, if the weather be good, the plants will begin to thrust 

 their heads above ground, at which time it will be very 



