CUCUMBER 81 



of frost is over, usually by the 10th of May, and should make 

 a very rapid growth, yielding good- sized fruits in two 

 months. The hills should be made rich by forking in a 

 quantity of well rotted manure, and given a slight elevation 

 above the garden not high enough to allow 

 the wind to dry the soil, but slightly raised 

 so that water will not stand around the roots. 

 One ounce of seed will plant fifty hills. The 

 hills may be 4-5 ft. apart each way. 



The White Spine is the leading general -purpose variety. 

 For very early or pickling sorts, the Chicago, Russian, and 

 other picklings are good. 



The striped beetle is an inveterate pest on Cucumbers 

 and squashes. Following is the latest advice (Hall and 

 Sirrine, New York State Experiment Station) : " Poisons can 

 be used with success against these beetles for only a short 

 time in the spring, when they begin to feed; and again, in 

 the fall, against beetles of the new brood. This fall poi- 

 soning will succeed only where there is not an abundance 

 of wild fall flowers; for the beetles will desert any poisoned 

 crop for the unpoisoned flowers and will feed upon the 

 flowers to a considerable extent, anyhow, if they are to be 

 found. Green arsenite, dry, gave best results. It was 

 found a waste of the poisons to apply them in Bordeaux 

 mixture, as the mixture so repelled the insects that they 

 would not eat the sprayed vines to secure the poison. 

 These poisons, applied in water, are liable to burn or stunt 

 the plants. It is necessary, then, if we wish to poison the 

 beetles, to use a trap crop to attract the insects and to apply 

 the poison to this crop instead of to the plants we design to 

 protect. On small areas it may be advisable to shut in the 

 small plants of the growing crop by the well known cloth - 

 topped boxes; by the tent- like cloth covers spread over arched 

 hoops or wires; by boxes made from a rectangular piece of 

 cloth and two short 6-inch boards with cleats attached to 

 insert in the soil and hold the boards upright; or even 6- 



