CUCUMBER 53 



further growth of side shoots, and after this there must be no more 

 stopping until there is a show of fruit. The growth should be pegged 

 out to cover the bed in the most regular manner possible, and where- 

 ever superfluous shoots appear they must be removed. Any crowding 

 will have to be paid for, because crowded shoots are not fruitful. 

 If a great show of fruit appears suddenly, remove a large portion 

 of it, as over-cropping makes a troublesome glut for a short time, 

 and then there is an end of the business ; but by keeping the crop 

 down to a reasonable limit, the plants will bear freely to the end ot 

 the season. Every fruiting shoot should be stopped at two leaves 

 beyond the fruit, and as the crop progresses there must be occasional 

 pruning out of old shoots to make room for young ones. An error 

 of management likely to occur with a beginner is allowing the bed to 

 become dry below while it is kept quite moist above by means of the 

 syringe. Many cultivators drive a stick into the bed here and there, 

 and from time to time they draw these out and judge by their appear- 

 ance whether or not the bed needs a heavy watering. To be dry at 

 the root is deadly to the Cucumber plant, and to be in a swamp is 

 not less deadly. It must have abundance of moisture above and 

 below, but stagnation of either air or water will bring disease, ending 

 in a waste of labour. 



THE GREENHOUSE CULTIVATION of the Cucumber for a summer 

 crop only is the most profitable and simple as well as the most inter- 

 esting of all the methods practised. In many gardens the houses that 

 have been filled during the winter with Geraniums and other plants 

 are very poorly furnished during the summer, and present a most 

 unsightly appearance. Now, it is a very easy matter to render them 

 at once profitable and beautiful, for when clothed with green vines 

 bearing handsome Cucumbers, such houses are attractive and pay 

 their way amazingly well. To carry out the routine nicely, the house 

 should be cleared at the end of April, the plants being removed to 

 pits and frames. The beds should, if possible, be made up on slates, 

 laid close over the hot-water pipes, and in making them a mere 

 bushel of soil under each light is enough to begin with. First lay on 

 the slate a large seed- pan bottom upwards, and on that a few flat 

 tiles, and then heap up in a cone about a bushel of nice light turfy 

 loam. Start the fire, and shut up and raise the heat of the empty 

 house to 80 or 90 for one whole day. The next day plant on each 

 hillock a nice short stout Cucumber plant, or sow two seeds. Pro- 

 ceed as advised for frame culture, keeping a temperature of 60 by 

 night and 80 by day, with a rise of 5 to 10 during sunshine. Ply 



