252 AMEH/CAN HUSBANDRY. 



throwing the furrow from the hills, and then com 

 mence the second hoeing, which is performed in the 

 same manner as the first, care being taken not to 

 earth up higher than the seed-leaves, and to set ape 

 out the crust between the plants if the ground is 

 hard or covered with weeds : if the plants are fair, 

 they are thinned down to five in a hill. 



When the vines extend so that single ones meet 

 each other between the hills, to prevent injuring 

 them, they are carefully laid aside by hand, or with 

 a short stick, and the cultivator is for the last time 

 run once through the rows each way. They then 

 receive the third and last hoeing, the ground being 

 .oosened and drawn up around the hills with the 

 hoe, and broken between the plants with the fingers. 

 It is customary to leave jive plants in a hill, standing 

 from four to five inches apart, but some reduce them 

 to four : I have made no experiments 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 crosspiece framed to it, so as to resemble 

 the letter T, is made use of to push the leaves aside, 

 the more readily to discover the fruit. 



The insects which trouble and destroy the plants 

 are the black worm and striped bugs : the first are 

 apt to be numerous in ground which was occupied 

 the preceding year with red cl<Jver ; they cut off the 

 plants at or just above the surface in the.night, and 

 are generally hunted out and destroyed early in the 

 morning, when their burrowing is fresh, and they 

 lay near the surface : the striped bug or yellow fly 

 eats the plants in the daytime, and is sometimes 

 veiy 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 to catch and destroy them with the fingers in the 

 morning, when the dew i?- on them and they arc 



