256 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



giving. Cold, frosty winds, with sudden sun-bursts 

 after dull weather, make these tender plants a most 

 precarious crop to rear successfully and well. A 

 slight shade may sometimes be found necessary, when 

 sudden sunshine succeeds a dull time, but the shade 

 is a necessary evil. Damping the surface of the 

 plunging material may be sufficient to prevent the 

 plants from flinching or suffering under such circum- 

 stances. 



After they have formed their rough leaves, and 

 pushed their leader-shoot, they progress rapidly, and 

 will require more water at the root ; and they should 

 be more freely supplied with it, especially if the 

 weather be clear and dry. It is taken for granted 

 that plants raised thus early are not intended for an 

 ordinary cucumber-frame, to be grown on the surface 

 of the bed, but to be grown on a trellis in a deep 

 brick pit. They should therefore not be stopped, 

 but allowed to grow on with one leader. If stopped, 

 they will make two weaker shoots, instead of one 

 stronger one, and will not be ready for the fruiting- 

 pit nearly so soon. As they progress, and expand 

 more leaves, do not allow them to become crowded, 

 nor their points to touch the glass ; and as they fill 

 their pots with roots, give them a steady supply of 

 water always of the same temperature as the frame. 

 See that the heat is steadily kept up by turning the 

 linings, and adding fresh warm material to them. 

 Sometimes I have reduced the plants to one in a 4- 

 inch pot, or when two were left, shifted the two plants 

 into 6 -inch pots if their appearance indicated that they 

 required more nourishment, or were likely to become 

 pot-bound. 



When all has progressed favourably, they are 



