CTENANTHE 



CUCUMBER 



905 



ing the treatment of calathea; apparently little known 

 in American collections. The species fall into two 

 groups, those with variegated and those with green 

 Ivs. Of the former group are C. Kummeriana, Eichl., 

 and C. Oppenheimiana, Schum., the former being 20 in. 

 or less tall and with villous ovary and raceme, the latter 

 robust and 3 ft. or more tall and ovary glabrous. Of the 

 plain-lvd. kinds, C. Luschnathiana, Eichl. (C. compressa 

 var. Luschnathiana, Schum.), and C. setosa, Eichl., may 

 be found in choice collections; both species grow about 

 3 ft. high, the former having ovate-acute bracts and 

 the latter long-acuminate brown-villous bracts. 



CUCKOOFLOWER: Cardamine pratensis. 

 CUCKOO-PINT: Arum. 



CUCUMBER. Plate XXXI. The common cucum- 

 bers are derived from an Asian species, Cucumis sativus 

 (see Cucumis), which has long been known in cultiva- 

 tion. The so-called West India gherkin, which is com- 

 monly classed with the cucumbers, is Cucumis Anguria. 

 The snake, or serpent cucumber is more properly a 

 muskmelon, and should be designated botanically as 

 Cucumis Melo var. flexuosus (cf. A. G. 14:206). The 

 "musk cucumber" is Cucumis moschata, Hort., which is 

 probably identical with concombre musque, referred to 

 Sicana odorifera by Le Potager d'un Curieux, known in 

 this country as cassabanana. The Mandela cucumber 

 is Cucumis Sacleuxii, Paill. et Bois. (Pot. d'un Curieux), 

 but it is not in cultivation in this country. None of 

 these is of any particular importance except the com- 

 mon types of Cucumis sativus. These are extensively 

 cultivated in all civilized countries as field and as garden 

 crops. They come into commerce as pickles packed in 

 bottles and barrels, and are very extensively used in 

 this form. Of late, the forcing of cucumbers under 

 glass has come to be an important industry in the 

 eastern states. 



Field culture. 



The common cucumber is an important field and 

 garden crop and may be classed as one of the standard 

 crops of the vegetable-garden. The fruit is used as a 

 table salad, eaten raw, with the usual salad seasonings, 

 and is pickled in large quantities. The cucumber is 

 pickled in both large and small sizes, both by the house- 

 wife and commercially on a large scale. The small 

 fruit, of not more than a day or two's growth and meas- 

 uring from 1 to 2 inches in length, makes the most 

 desirable and delicate of pickles. These are packed in 

 bottles for the commercial trade and bring fancy prices. 

 Larger sizes are pickled and sold by the keg or barrel. 



The cucumber is a native of the tropics and tender 

 of frost. It should be planted in a warm location, 

 after danger from frost is past. For the early crop and 

 earliness is of prime importance to the commercial 

 vegetable-grower a sandy soil is preferable, supplied 

 with an abundance of well-rotted stable manure. The 

 seed may be sown in hills 3 feet apart with rows 6 feet 

 apart, or may be planted by machine (the common 

 seed-drill) in drills 6 feet apart. In either case, an abun- 

 dance of seed should be used, for severe injury by insect 

 pests often occurs in the early stages of the cucumber's 

 life. Plants may be started under glass to hasten matu- 

 rity. The seed is sometimes sown in pots or baskets or in 

 inverted sods and these protected and so managed that 

 the cucumber plant receives those conditions most 

 suitable to its rapid and healthy growth. These condi- 

 tions are: a temperature between 60 and 65 at night, 

 which may be allowed to rise to 100 in bright sunshine; 

 an ample supply of moisture; sufficient ventilation, 

 without draft, to prevent a soft brittle growth. It is 

 almost impossible to transplant cucumber seedlings 

 and secure satisfactory results if the roots are disturbed. 

 A glass-covered frame may be used over seed planted 

 in the field, and yields good returns on labor and equip- 



ment. Any method whereby marketable cucumbers 

 may be obtained a few days earlier, if not extravagant 

 of time and labor, will pay handsomely. 



The cucumber, in the field, should yield marketable 

 fruits in seven to eight weeks from seed and continue 

 in profitable bearing until frost. It is customary among 

 commercial growers to allow two or three plants to the 

 hill, and when grown in drills, one plant is left every 18 

 to 24 inches. 



During the height of the growing season, which is 

 usually in August when the days are hot and nights 

 moist and warm, the cucumbers need to be picked 

 every day. The fruit is ready to harvest when it is well 

 filled out, nearly cylindrical in shape. When immature 

 it is somewhat furrowed. When allowed to remain 

 too long, it becomes swollen in its middle portion and 

 cannot be sold as first quality. Cucumbers are mar- 

 keted by the dozen, the field crop often bringing as 

 much as 60 cents a dozen at the first and selling as low 

 as 5 cents a dozen at the glut of the market. 



The cucumber plant is affected by serious insect 

 pests and fungous diseases. Of the insect pests, the 

 striped cucumber beetle is the most serious and diffi- 

 cult to combat. It feeds on the leaves, usually on the 



1121. House of English cucumbers. 



under sides, and appears soon after the cucumber 

 seedlings break ground. This cucumber beetle seems 

 to be little affected by the common remedies for chew- 

 ing insects. This is probably largely due to its activity, 

 the beetle moving to unpoisoned parts of the plant, and 

 also to the fact that rarely, in commercial practice, is 

 the under side of the leaves thoroughly poisoned. Arsen- 

 ate of lead applied in more than ordinary strength is 

 the most satisfactory remedy. Hammond's Slug Shot, 

 dusted lightly over the plants, will drive the bugs 

 away, while a teaspoonful of paris green mixed with 

 two pounds of flour makes also an excellent mixture 

 with which to fight the bugs. Or cover the young plants 

 with small wire or hoop frames, over which fine netting 

 is stretched. If the plants are kept quite free from 

 attack till these protectors are outgrown, they will 

 usually suffer little damage. Plants started in hotbeds 

 or greenhouses may usually be kept free at first, and 

 this is the chief advantage of such practices. The 

 cucumber beetles are kept away somewhat at times by 

 strewing tobacco stems thickly under the plants; and 

 kerosene emulsion will sometimes discommode the 

 young squash bugs without killing the vines, but usually 

 not. What is known as the cucumber blight (Pseudope- 

 ronospora cubensis) has done much to discourage the 

 growth of cucumbers. This fungus may be repulsed by 

 thorough spraying with bordeaux and the plants should 



