58 WORCETTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1891. 



The great secret of success in forcing cucumbers under glass, 

 consists in giving the seed a quick start, and then keeping the 

 plants growing rapidly and continuously, without any check if 

 possible, either from unskilled handling or lack of heat or 

 moisture. 



The Seed Bed 



Should consist of some six inches of finely pulverized and 

 moist soil, placed on top of a foot or more in depth of fresh and 

 very active bottom heat — stable manure in a very high state 

 of fermentation — or in direct contact with the water tank of an 

 incubator. It does not require a large space simply for the 

 germination of a large quantity of seed, for the seed may liter- 

 ally cover the ground, or even be two deep for that matter, pro- 

 vided it is well covered with soil. Cover an inch deep with mel- 

 low soil sifted through a fine coal sieve, or mason's sieve, and 

 press down firmly and evenly. 



Potting the Plants. 



Just as soon as the plants show themselves above the soil 

 (which will be in 48 hours or less, if your heat is just right) they 

 should be pricked out into pots (3-inch pots are about the right 

 size) in fine, moist, warm soil, firmly pressed in and then plunged 

 in soil over fresh fermenting manure in a hot-bed frame, or else 

 in a house heated to a high temperature. 



When the air outside is mild, ventilation should be given, but 

 not enough to cause the thermometer to drop below 75° or 80° 

 in the daytime. 



The soil in the pots should be kept moist by frequent watering 

 with warm water, if you can. Though this is not absolutely 

 necessary. 



Repotting. 



When these plants have grown a few weeks in the pots, and 

 especially if they become "long-legged," as gardeners term it, it 

 is well to repot them, setting them deeper down in the soil, and 

 perhaps in a pot one size larger — say a 4-inch pot. A larger pot, 

 however, is not always necessary, for it is well to let the plant 



