No. 4.] SQUASHES, MELONS AND CUCUMBERS. 129 



is laid to walk on, so as to keep the soil light and loose. A good crop 

 of cucumbers for a house 40 feet wide would be $350 or more for every 

 hundred feet of length. 



In order to get a good set of cucumbers in a greenhouse there should 

 be a strong colony of bees to every 150 feet of length. The beehive 

 should be set outside the house, and near enough to it to have an en- 

 trance directly into the house and another entrance into the open. 

 Keep the entrance into the open closed until the bees are working 

 well in the house, and then give them the use of the entrance into the 

 open. With two entrances the colony will be kept in a more normal 

 condition. 



Cucumbers in a greenhouse are liable to attacks from green flies 

 and red spiders. Control the green fly by using tobacco or nicofume 

 for smoking the house. Dispose of the red spider by the use of a spray 

 of soap or water, or both. It is best to consult with and learn from 

 some one who is keeping the red spider down by the use of these sprays. 



Cucumbers should be harvested by cutting from the vines with a 

 knife when they are of a diameter barely encompassed with the thumb 

 and middle finger. Seven or eight dozen cucumbers should be enough 

 to fill a bushel box. Cucumbers should be harvested regularly about 

 four times a week, and if carefully done very few will become too 

 large. The fruits should be sorted into three grades and a trade 

 worked up for each grade. 



Large numbers of hotbed sash are used for raising cucumbers, and 

 a good crop will return $1 or more gross per sash. Manure is trenched 

 in as above described for early greenhouse cucumbers, to supply the 

 needed heat. The manure is put in the first week in May, and plants 

 set one or two plants to a sash. These beds should be about 4 feet 

 apart. The sash will be enough protection for the cucumbers, no mats 

 being needed. The vines will soon cover the ground, and by the first 

 of July will be bearing heavily. As soon as the vines begin to climb out 

 of the sides of the bed the sash may be taken away and piled up. Bed 

 cucumbers and those planted in the open are less liable to be troubled 

 with green flies and red spiders than those in greenhouses. If any 

 plant or hill is infested it may be well to throw a canvas over it and 

 smoke it, or to pull up the vine and carefully remove it, so that these 

 insects will not infest the other plants. 



Cucumbers may be planted in the open from May 1 to July 1 , with 

 a fair show of getting a crop. The land should be very rich. The 

 hills, 4 by 6 feet or 6 by 6 feet, may be prepared as for melons. The 

 young plants need just as much care and attention as young melons. 

 A mulch of coarse manure over the ground before the plants cover 

 the ground ^vill be found very beneficial. If weather conditions are 

 favorable, a large crop may be obtained, but the season for picking 

 will be short. It is very hard to harvest outdoor or bed cucumbers 

 satisfactorily, as so many are missed and grow too large. The variety 

 most commonly planted, inside or out, is the Arlington White Spine. 



