CUCUMBER. 143 



pollenized by insects. The seed is long, oval in form and 

 yellowish-white in color. 



Cultivation. The land for cucumbers should be a deep, ri cn > 

 somewhat retentive loam, and yet this vegetable will do very 

 well with only moderately favorable conditions. For ordinary 

 use and for the home garden, cucumber seed should be planted 

 after the ground is warm, say from the middle to the last of 

 May, but it may be planted with good results as late as the 

 middle of June. It is quite customary to furrow out the land 

 six feet apart one way, mark crossways of the furrows 

 with a six foot marker and put a shovelful of well rotted 

 manure or compost at each intersection. Cover this manure 

 with soil and plant the cucumber seed. Of course, when the 

 land is in the best condition, it is not necessary to put 

 manure in the hills; in such cases, all that is necessary is to 

 mark out both ways and plant at the intersections. 

 About ten or a dozen seeds should be put in each hill and 

 covered about one inch deep, and the soil packed over the 

 seeds. As soon as the plants are up, and after each rain, 

 they should have the soil loosened around them. They should 

 also be kept dusted with Paris green and plaster or some other 

 dust, to keep off the striped beetles, which are often very 

 troublesome and may destroy the plants when they are small 

 unless preventive measures are used. (See chapter on insects. ) 

 The land should be cultivated both ways until the vines prevent 

 it, so that very little work will have to be done by hand. 

 About three good plants are enough for each hill, and the 

 rest should be removed after the danger from serious insect 

 injuries has passed. 



Gathering the Crop. If for table use or for marketing in a 

 green state, the cucumbers are gathered when full grown but 

 still green; if for pickles, the cucumbers are gathered as soon 

 as of the required size, which is generally when they are 

 about three inches long. Some factories put up larger and 

 some smaller pickles than this size. To gather them of just 

 the right size requires that the whole bed be picked over about 

 once in two days. This is a matter of much labor and is 

 generally paid for by the piece. No cucumbers should be al- 

 lowed to go to seed if pickles or table cucumbers are wanted, 

 for as soon as seed is ripened the plants commence to die off, 



