CHAPTER XXI 

 THE CUCUMBER. 



Cucumber. Cucumis sativus. 



French, concombre ; German, gurke ; Dutch, komkom- 

 mer; Danish, agurken; Italian, cetriolo; Spanish, cohom- 

 bro ; Portuguese, pepino. 



The cucumber is rather an exacting plant and seldom 

 yields anything but disappointment to the grower who 

 does not give it the most watchful care and generous sup- 

 plies of food and drink. It is very sensitive to frosts, nor 

 does it thrive in low temperatures even if free from frost. 

 It rejoices in heat, but it abhors drouth. It is not con- 

 tent, like some members of its botanical family, to thrive 

 in dry heat if it can find moisture below; the heat re- 

 flected from a dry surface and interior sunshine beaming 

 through dry air brings distress to its foliage. For these 

 reasons it usually resents location on interior plains un- 

 less it can have abundant moisture and some protection 

 from heat such at least as locally may come from modi- 

 fying the air immediately around it, by evaporation from 

 water standing near. Modified interior conditions such as 

 are found on river-side land or moist lowlands often yield 

 fine growth and productiveness, but even there it is often 

 necessary to keep the moisture close to the plant by irri- 

 gation. In coast valleys where heat and moisture are well 

 balanced and on soil rich and moist by cultivation the 

 plant may be productive enough without irrigation, 

 but as a rule even in parts of coast valleys where the heat 

 runs high, as ocean influences are reduced, not only is 

 occasional irrigation needed but constant supplies are the 

 price of thrift in the plant. For these reasons the placing 

 of cucumbers along the main ditches where water fre- 



