188 OF RAISING CUCUMBERS. SECT. XIV. 



dang. Having levelled the bed neatly with the fork, 

 beat it smooth with a shovel or spade, and put the 

 frame and glass on again. 



The temper of the bed is now to be attended to> 

 that it be not moulded till the burning heat is over; 

 a judgment of which may be formed, by keeping two 

 sharp pointed smooth sticks thrust in behind, and 

 occasionally drawing and feeling them, by a quick 

 grasp of the hand. Endeavour to hit the exact time, 

 not putting the mould on too soon, as it is liable to 

 burn, nor delaying too long, and so to lose time, and 

 too much of that heat, the bed was made for. 



The moulding is thus: lay all over the bed about 

 three inches thick of rich loose (not over light) and 

 dry earth, and add as much in the centre of the light 

 as will raise a hiil eight or nine inches deep, which as 

 soon as warm through, is to be used, except the bed 

 seem too hot, ana likely to burn ; in which case, draw 

 the chief of the mould aside round the frame, that the 

 heat may have vent in the middle for a day or two. 

 As it is a thing essentially necessary in the cultivation 

 of early cucumbers, to have rich earth, properly dry, 

 it should be prepared, and laid by in autumn, in 

 some airy shed or hovel. Let it be, if possible, some 

 fresh under turf earth, mixed with about one fourth 

 part of thorough rotten horse-dung, often stirred to- 

 . get her to incorporate and sweeten. 



The sowing may be made upon the hill of mould, 

 levelled down to about six inches deep; but if any 

 suspicion of burning (or in short at any rate), it were 

 belter to sow in a small pot or two, which should be 

 filled with the warm mould, and plunged a little way 

 i i, more or less according to the heat of the bed, for 

 k if the bed appears to be over hot, the pot may be 

 raised irom it ; cover the seeds half an inch, and add 

 a gen f le pressure of the earth uppn them. In a bed 

 of proper temper, they will be up in three or four 



