152 A HOME VEGETABLE-GARDEN 



ing touch of the frost on the cover of leaves. 

 Care is needed in picking the cucumbers. If 

 pulled, the whole plant is liable to be loosened at 

 the root. Cut the fruit, instead, with a knife or 

 the garden shears, leaving a bit of the stem on 

 the main stalk. The cucumbers must be gathered 

 as fast as they are ready, the Burrs when less 

 than two inches. Gather them all. Never let 

 fruit ripen on vines growing salad ; new fruit will 

 not continue to form, as a rule, while more de- 

 veloped fruit is ripening. The ripening process, 

 the development of seed, is a great strain on the 

 plant vitality. If fruit is allowed to mature, pro- 

 ductive vigor will be wasted; so, unless the 

 gardener wishes merely ripe fruit, as with the 

 Long Green, keep the fruit all harvested as soon 

 as the desired size is reached. By care in har- 

 vesting at the proper time, the harvest is pro- 

 longed and the quality improved. Look the vines 

 over every day or two. Cut in the morning, while 

 it is cool, for the refreshing flavor lies in the cool 

 juice and the crisp texture. 



No one needs telling how to use cucumbers: 

 for salad, whether sliced into a French dressing 

 or served with vinegar or merely a shake of salt. 

 Try tarragon vinegar in the French dressing. 

 Pare them and chop them a bit and, added to any 

 salad, they furnish the cool, refreshing, fragrant 

 quality like no other salad fruit. Pile the slices 

 on lettuce leaves and dress them merely with salt. 



