496 CULTURE OF THE CUCUMBER IN A DUNG-BED. 



spot ; and want of atmospheric moisture encourages the red spider and the 

 thrip, and to a certain extent also, the aphides. 



1050. These are the general principles of cucumber culture. Within the 

 last two years, treatises have been published on the cultivation of the 

 cucumber by Mills, Duncan and Ayres ; and a few years before by Allen, 

 Smith, and Weedon. These works treat of the culture of the cucumber in 

 dung-beds, in pits of different kinds, in stoves, and vineries, in the cucum- 

 ber-house, and in the open air ; and the following subsections derived from 

 them will, we trust, supply all that is wanted by the Suburban Horticul- 

 turist for routine practice. 



SUBSECT. II. Culture of the Cucumber in a Dung-bed. 



1051. The formation of a dung-bed for general purposes has been already 

 given (841 to 847). For the purpose of growing cucumbers in mid-winter, 

 great care is necessary to prepare the dung properly, so that by reducing 

 its heat there may be no danger of an excess, or what is termed a " burning 

 heat," after the bed is made up. When this burning heat takes place, the 

 bed becomes dry and mouldy to within a few inches of its surface, from 

 which a noxious vapour arises, which, together with the excessive heat, 

 speedily destroys the plants. Mr. Mills, whose treatise is very full on this 

 mode of cucumber culture, directs to turn over the dung which is in 

 preparation for a cucumber bed, once a week for six or eight weeks. 

 (Treatise on the Cucumber, <^c., p. 12.) 



1052. The seed bed requires to be first formed. It should be 3 feet high 

 at the back, and 2 feet 6 inches in front ; and when the lights are put on, 

 eight or ten days should elapse before sowing the seeds. During this time 

 the surface of the bed should be forked over every other day, about a foot 

 deep, watering it if it should appear too dry, and admitting sufficient air to 

 allow the steam to pass off freely, " In order to prove whether or not the 

 bed be sweet, shut the lights down close for three or four hours ; then take 

 a lighted candle in a lantern, push down one of the lights, and put the 

 candle and lantern into the frame, and if the candle be not put out by 

 the excess of moisture, but should continue to burn, the bed will be in a 

 fit state to receive the plants or seeds." (Ibid. p. 14.) 



1053. Soil. Cucumbers will grow in any light rich soil. M'Phail 

 used leaf mould alone ; Aiton uses light loam and rotten dung, of each one- 

 third, and the remaining third composed of leaf mould and heath soil ; Mr. 

 Mills began in 1811 to use sandy peat, the turfs being chopped moderately 

 small with the spade but not sifted. Peat soil is not so rich as leaf mould ; 

 but Mr. Mills finds that when placed on sweet fermenting dung, the roots 

 will penetrate through it, and help themselves to food when the plants 

 require it. " I have tried numerous experiments with soils," he says, 

 "variously mixed, from the year 1811 to the present time ; and I am per- 

 fectly satisfied that peat alone is best, and I am now (January 1841) using it 

 on dung-beds." (Ibid. p. 15.) 



1054. Seeds and treatment of the young plants. Seeds must be proved 

 before sowing, by putting them into a basin of water for about two hours, 

 when those that are good will sink to the bottom, and the rest may be 

 thrown away. Nine seeds may be sown in a pot, 9 inches in diameter, filled 

 with sifted peat well drained, on Michaelmas-day, if for early fruit. The 

 seeds should beplaced round the pot near the outside, covered half an inch, 



