190 THE KITCHEN GARDEN. [MARCH 



off them ; or, if a dark day, and the weather is severe, at such period 

 as you may think necessary, according to the degree of heat or cold 

 that may be prevalent at the time ; and uncover in the morning, if a 

 sunny day, so soon as it shines on the beds, or, if otherwise, as early 

 as may be consistent with the safety of the plants ; for their being 

 too much debarred from the light, causes them to become discolored 

 and weakly. 



As the early plants raised last month will have now advanced con- 

 siderably into fruitful runners, and show fruit abundantly, especially 

 cucumbers, let the runners or vines be trained out regularly along 

 the surface of the bed at equal distances, and peg them down neatly 

 with small hooked sticks. At this early season it will be of much 

 utility to impregnate the young fruit of cucumbers with the farina of 

 male blossoms. The flowers of cucumbers and melons are male and 

 female, separate on the same plant, and the females produce the 

 fruit; the* males are often erroneously called false blossoms, and 

 many persons in consequence of that notion pull them off; but they 

 are so far from being false blossoms, that they are by nature designed 

 to impregnate the female flowers to render them fruitful; for the 

 antheraj in the centre of the male blossom being furnished with a 

 fine powder, which being dispersed on the stigma in the centre of the 

 female, the fecundation is effected, and the fruit in a day or two after 

 will begin to swell, and which in cucumbers will generally, in about 

 a fortnight, or within a few days under or over, according to the 

 state or growth of the plants, be arrived to a proper size for cutting 

 or gathering for the table, in young green fruit six to twelve inches 

 long or more; so that without the assistance of the male blossom, the 

 females having the embryo fruit at their base wither and decay, and 

 the infant fruit turns yellow and drops off. 



Therefore it is of importance to preserve a sufficiency of the male 

 flowers, for the purpose of impregnating the females ; and in the early 

 culture of cucumbers, &c., it is eligible to carry some of the males to 

 the female flowers ; observing for this purpose to detach some new 

 expanded male blossoms with the stalk to each, and holding the stalk 

 between the finger and thumb, and pulling off the petal or flower 

 leaf surrounding the male organ, then with the remaining antherae 

 or central part, touch the stigma in the centre of the female, twirling 

 it about so as some of the farina or male powder of the anthene may 

 adhere thereto, a little of which being sufficient to effect the im- 

 pregnation. 



This operation is essentially necessary to be performed by hand, 

 to early plants that are shut up in frames, before the lights or glasses 

 can be admitted sufficiently open to give free access to a large cur- 

 rent of air, or flying insects, such as bees, &c., all of which assist 

 in conveying the farina of the male blossoms to the females, as is 

 evident in plants exposed to the open air. 



The above operation of fecundating, or, as the gardeners term it, 

 setting the fruit, should be performed the same day the flowers open 

 and are fully expanded, which is the most essential period of their 

 generative effect. 



The female or fruit-bearing flowers are readily distinguished at 



