CUCUMBER. 



CUCUMBER. 



quires to be protected from the south and north- 

 west winds, and be situated near the bay or 

 river, where there is always less danger from 

 late frosts. The south winds, with us, in May 

 and June, retard vegetation more than any other, 

 in consequence of their being chilly and cool, 

 which qualities they receive from the ocean. 



"Ground intended for cucumbers we prefer 

 ploughing in August or the beginning of Sep- 

 tember of the preceding year, and sowing with 

 rye ; the pasture which this produces pays for 

 the labour, and among its advantages are, the 

 prevention of weeds going to seed and troubling 

 us in the spring; the soil not blowing about in 

 winter, especially on the knolls; neither is 'it 

 so liable to blow when ploughed in the spring, 

 in consequence of the roots of the plants, and 

 the sustenance afforded to the crop by the de- 

 cay of the rye. Previous to ploughing for the 

 crop, there should be spread about seven two- 

 horse loads of street or horse manure to the 

 acre ; but if the soil is poor, more will be ne- 

 cessary, and the ploughing should take place 

 immediately after the spreading. The ground 

 is then harrowed over two or three times until 

 it is mellow, furrowed shallow, with a plough, 

 into hills four and a half feet asunder, manured 

 with half a shovelful in a hill, which is flat- 

 tened down with a hoe and covered about an 

 inch thick with fine soil. Short hog manure, 

 carted out of the pen the preceding fall, and 

 cut over early in the spring once or twice, and 

 made fine, is preferred for the hills; but this 

 not being generally sufficiently abundant, we 

 procure the manure of cows which have been 

 fed on distillers' slops, mixed with that of 

 horses, so as to make it sufficiently firm to 

 handle with a fork, from New York in the fall, 

 which we mix with the hog manure. The ma- 

 nure should be cool, for fermentation in the 

 hills is injurious to the plants. 



"The sooner the seed is planted after plough- 

 ing the better; the time of planting depends 

 upon the forwardness of the season, and it is 

 generally commenced when single apricot blos- 

 soms are open, but some seasons earlier. About 

 a week is occupied in putting in the first seed, 

 and nearly the same period in planting over 

 the first and second times. The casualties to 

 which the seeds and plants are subject induces 

 us to continue putting in seed almost everyday 

 for this space of time, so as to make certain 

 work. It sometimes happens, when the wea- 

 ther has been unfavourable, that every hill in 

 some fields is planted over the third, and even 

 single hills the fourth time. I prefer spreading 

 the first seed in the south half of the hills, the 

 first planting over in the northwest, and the 

 second in the northeast quarters ; if it becomes 

 necessary to plant over the third time, I put the 

 seed in the south half, where the first seed by 

 that time is rotten. If this plan is properly 

 followed, the different plantings will not inter- 

 fere with each other. We generally put in 

 from thirty to forty seeds each time, and cover 

 them with fine soil from three-quarters to an 

 inch deep. Sprouting the seed previous to 

 planting does not succeed well early in the 

 season, but does sometimes when the weather 

 is favourable in the latter part. Cucumber 

 seed is the tenderest of the vine kind, for if, 

 47 



after planting at the usual depth, wet weather 

 should follow, it is almost certain to rot; if dry, 

 it dries out; if, when favourable to their vege- 

 tating, and the plants have advanced so as to 

 be breaking ground, a storm should occur, they 

 generally perish; a northeaster of .three or four 

 days' continuance destroys the plants when 

 young, and in some instances when more than 

 a week old ; if up too early, a late frost is apt 

 to sweep them clean. Seed to vegetate re- 

 quires to be near the surface of the wet soil, 

 not buried deep into it; our ignorance of 

 the weather which will follow after planting, 

 causes most of our errors ; when planted in a 

 heavy soil, it is less liable to rot and dry out 

 than in a sandy one, but the fruit is later. If 

 it happens that there are more plants in a hill 

 than we require, we find it an easy matter to 

 eradicate them with the hoe and fingers, but it 

 is not so easy to place them in the hills when 

 deficient 



When the first rough leaves of the plants 

 are about the size of a twenty-five cent piece, 

 a cultivator is run through the rows both ways, 

 and they receive the first hoeing ; the plants are 

 also thinned out, so as not to cro.wd each other. 

 In hoeing, the soil between the plants should not 

 be disturbed ; large weeds (if any) must be pull- 

 ed out; and fine soil drawn around the plants up 

 to the seed leaves, so as to cover small weeds. 

 The hill must be made flat and not concave. 

 We are careful not to hoe while the plants are 

 very young, for if a storm should occur shortly 

 after the operation has been performed, the 

 hills soak in too much water, which is inju- 

 rious. Ten or twelve days after the first hoe- 

 ing, the plants (if good) are thinned to six or 

 eight in a hill, leaving the largest ones, and if 

 possible three or four inches apart. -About 

 eighteen days after-Jhe first hoeing, or about 

 the time when single blossoms open, we run a 

 one-horse plough twice through a row each 

 way (if the ground is hard, three times), 

 throwing the furrow from the hills, and then 

 commence the second hoeing, which is per- 

 formed in the same manner as the first, care 

 being taken not to earth up higher than the 

 seed leaves, and to scrape out the crust be- 

 tween the plants, if the ground is hard or co- 

 vered with weeds ; they are also, if the plants 

 are fair, thinned down to five in a hill. 



" When the vines extend so that single ones 

 meet each other between the hills, to prevent 

 injury they are carefully laid aside by hand, or 

 with a short stick, and the cultivator for the 

 last time is run once through a row each way. 

 They then receive the third and last hoeing, the 

 ground being loosened and drawn up around 

 the hills with the hoe, and broken between the 

 plants with the fingers. It is customary to 

 leave five plants in a hill, standing from four 

 to five inches apart, but some reduce them to 

 four ; have tried no experiment to test which 

 is the best. 



" Cucumber vines will yield fruit about eight 

 weeks, and the fields are picked over at least 

 every second and sometimes every day. In 

 picking, a light stick with a cross-piece framed 

 to it so as to resemble the letter T, is made use 

 of to push the leaves aside and more readily 

 to discover the fruit. 



