HOME PROJECTS 357 



varieties for slicing. For the student's home project, White 

 Spine or Henderson's Perfected should be chosen. 



Soil. Cucumbers should have a warm, moist, rich, loamy 

 soil. Sod that has been turned over in the fall is excellent. 

 A shovelful of well-rotted manure, thoroughly mixed with the 

 soil at the bottom of each hill of cucumbers, should be applied. 

 A handful of commercial fertilizer may also be added. Make 

 the hill at least two feet in diameter, and spade the soil up 

 to a depth of seven or eight inches. If the soil is heavy, add 

 a shovelful or two of fibrous loam. The student should grow 

 at least twenty-five hills for this project. 



Planting. Plant the seeds out-of-doors after all danger 

 of frost is over; usually the first or second week of May is 

 a safe time. Plant about eight or ten seeds scattered about 

 in the hill. The hills should be from four to six feet apart 

 each way. When the vines begin to run, they should be 

 thinned from four to five plants, leaving the strongest vines 

 spaced wide in the hill. 



Indoor planting. For an early start it would be a good 

 experiment in this project for the student to grow a few hills 

 indoors. Take sod from a very rich soil as soon as the frost 

 is out of the ground. The pieces of sod should be from four 

 to six inches square. Turn them upside down, and place six 

 or eight seeds in each piece of sod, about half an inch deep. 

 Keep these plants in a warm place and moisten regularly. 

 As soon as they make a good start, transfer the sod with the 

 young plants to the hills in the garden. Cucumber plants 

 may also be started in berry boxes or flower pots. 



Cultivation. Keep the surface mulched until the vines 



