THE CUCUMBER. 255 



without being potted off from a seed-pan, and to some 

 extent checked in the operation. Water will not be 

 required, if the weather be dull and sunless, till they 

 have rooted from their stems. Care, however, must 

 be taken that a sudden sun-burst does not overtake 

 them in a dry state. When watered, give as much 

 as will wet the whole ball. Their vital action is 

 weak, and in consequence their power of decomposi- 

 tion weak also ; and the object being a sturdy well- 

 proportioned plant, a stiff stem, and leaves of good 

 substance, it is one that a superabundance of water 

 effectually defeats. The best way is to grow with as 

 small an amount of water as possible ; a minimum 

 rather than a maximum temperature ; and to give as 

 much fresh air daily as will dry the foliage once in 

 the twenty-four hours. There is no surer sign that 

 all is going on well than when, on uncovering the 

 frame in the morning, dew-drops are studded round 

 the edges of the leaves. 



The state of the bed, after the first fortnight or 

 three weeks, must be carefully watched, and a heap of 

 manure and leaves, in a hot state, should be in readiness 

 to line the bed with, whenever there is any difficulty 

 in keeping the heat at 70. A little should be cut off 

 the outside of the bed all round, and holes bored into 

 it with a stake, so as to allow the heat from the lining 

 to act into it. The lining should not be less than 

 two feet wide, and as carefully made up as the bed 

 itself ; and it should be covered so as to prevent rains 

 from washing the heat out of it suddenly. In fact, 

 great attention must be paid to the bed in this respect, 

 to keep up a steady temperature. And as all know 

 who have thus reared young cucumbers, constant 

 watchfulness must be exercised in the matter of air- 



