CUCUMBER. 



CUCUMBER. 



u We are acquainted with the system of ro- 

 tation of crops,, and it has been practised 

 among our farmers for years, but cucumbers, 

 as well as some other vegetables, do not seem 

 to require it. I have a piece of about half an 

 acre on which I have cultivated them for the 

 last ten successive years, ploughing in the 

 usual quantity of street manure every second 

 year, and they have flourished as well as on the 

 adjoining ground, which has been similarly 

 manured, and on which the crops have bejn 

 changed. 



"The following is the quantity planted, pro- 

 duce, and amount of sales, for the last four 

 years, viz. 



y w Hills plnnled. Cucumbers sold. Ain't receive.!. 



Isvi 6000 10^,965 $52384 



1836 r./xK) 99.670 820 96 



1837 7,370 130,735 532 00 



1838 7,110 118,600 734 87 } 

 " During each of these years large quantities 



of cullings, and, when unsaleable, good ones, 

 were fed to the hogs and cattle, of which no 

 account was kept." (Cultivator, v.) 



CUCUMBER, INSECTS ATTACKING. In 

 the United States the vine of the cucumber is 

 preyed upon at all ages, but more especially 

 when very young and tender, by various in- 

 sects, which make it necessary to replant fre- 

 quently, and very often entirely destroy the 

 hopes of the gardener and truckman. Among 

 the most destructive of these is the beetle ge- 

 nerally known by the names of striped bug, 

 cucumber bug, and striped Galeruca. It is of a 

 light yellow colour above, with a black head, 

 and a broad black stripe on each wing-cover. 

 Its length is rather more than one-fifth of an 

 inch. It belongs to the extensive tribe of leaf- 

 eating beetles, called by naturalists Chrysame- 

 lians, a word applied to designate golden bee- 

 tles, many of which are of the most brilliant 

 colours, with the finest metallic lustres. 



Dr. Harris informs us that the striped cu- 

 cumber bug in early spring devours the ten- 

 der leaves of various plants, before the cucum- 

 ber, squash, and melon vines are out of the 

 ground. As soon, however, as the leaves of 

 these come up and begin to expand, they are 

 attacked by the bug ; and, as several broods 

 are produced in the course of the summer, it 

 may be found at various times on these plants 

 till the latter are destroyed by frost. " Great 

 numbers of these little beetles may be obtained 

 in the autumn from the flowers of squash and 

 pumpkin vines, the pollen and germs of which 

 they are very fond of. They get into the blos- 

 soms as soon as the latter are opened, and are 

 often caught there by the twisting and closing 

 of the top of the flower, and when they want 

 to make their escape, they are obliged to gnaw 

 a hole through the side of their temporary pri- 

 son. The IV 1 m ales lay their eggs in the ground, 

 and the larvae probably feed on the roots of 

 plants, but they have hitherto escaped my re- 

 searches. 



"Various means have been suggested and 

 tried to prevent the ravages of these striped 

 cucumber beetles, which have become noto- 

 rious throughout the country for their attacks 

 upon the leaves of the cucumber and squash 

 Dr. B. S. Barton, of Philadelphia, recommend- 

 ed sprinkling the vines with a mixture of to- 

 370 



jacco and red pepper, which he stated to be 

 attended with great benefit. Watering the vir.es 

 with a solution of one ounce of Glauber's salts 

 .n a quart of water, or with tobacco water, an 

 infusion of elder, of walnut leaves, or of hops, 

 las been highly recommended. Mr. Gourgas, 

 of Weston, has found no application so useful 

 as ground plaster of Paris ; and a writer in the 

 'American Farmer' extols the use of charcoal 

 dust. Deane recommended sifting powdered 

 soot upon the plants when they are wet with 

 the morning dew, and others have advised sul- 

 phur and Scotch snuff to be applied in the same 

 way. As these insects fly by night as well as 

 by day, and are attracted by lights, lighted 

 splinters of pine knots or of staves of tar- 

 barrels, stuck into the ground during the night 

 around the plants, have been found useful in 

 destroying these beetles. The most effectual 

 preservative both against these insects and the 

 equally destructive black flea-beetles which in- 

 fest the vines in the spring, consists in cover- 

 ing the young vines with millinet stretched 

 over small wooden frames. Mr. Levi Bartlett, 

 of Warner, N. H., has described %. method for 

 making these frames expeditiously and econo- 

 mically, and his directions may be found in 

 the second volume of the New England Farmer, 

 p. 305, and in Fessenden's New American Gar* 

 dener, sixth edition, p. 91." (Harris.) 



A correspondent of the Cultivator says that 

 a thin layer of tow spread over cucumber and 

 melon plants when they first appear will save 

 them from the striped yellow bug. To this the 

 editor appends the following observation : 

 " Our remedy for the bug, and for the worm in 

 the garden, is to put a coop with a hen and 

 good brood of chickens there, and these intrud- 

 ers, and most others of the insect depredators, 

 will soon become scarce." The thin layer of 

 tow doubtless suggested the millinet frame pro- 

 tectors just referred to. 



Mr. Bergen, whose mode of cultivating cu- 

 cumbers has been given, makes the following 

 observations in relation to the insect enemies 

 of the plant: 



" The insects which trouble and destroy the 

 plants are the black worm and striped bugs ; 

 the first is apt to be numerous in ground which 

 was occupied the preceding year with red clo- 

 ver; they cut off the plants at or above the sur- 

 face in the night, and are generally hunted out 

 early in the morning, when their borrowing is 

 fresh and they lie near the surface, until the 

 ground is cleared of them : the striped bug or 

 yellow fly eats the plants in the day time, and 

 is sometimes very destructive on land where a 

 crust is formed on the surface, which, being 

 raised up by the young plants, affords them a 

 harbour. The best remedy is, with the fingers 

 to catch and destroy them in the morning when 

 the dew is on them and they are chilled, which 

 prevents their flying and escaping as freely as 

 when the sun has warmed them. Sandy land, 

 having no crust to shelter these pests, is gene- 

 rally exempt from their depredations." 



The cucumber flea-beetle referred to, is a 

 little, black, jumping insect, well known from 

 the injury done by it in the spring, not only to 

 the young plants of the cucumber, but to those 

 of the cabbage, turnip, ruta baga, mustard, 



