CUCUMBER. 85 



with the soil. Another mode of forwarding them is to cut 

 sods two or three inches thick and four to six inches square, 

 and placing them, grass side down, side by side hi the 

 frame. On each sod place three or four cucumber seeds, 

 and cover them with half an inch of light, rich soil, sifted 

 fine, and watering as before. Their after treatment is the 

 same as that of those started in pots. In transplanting 

 them to the hills, bury the sod about hah " an inch deeper 

 than the soil with which the seeds were overlaid. 



In either mode of starting them, they should be watered 

 and partially shaded for a day or two after being trans- 

 planted to the hills. If the weather should be very dry, 

 the hills should occasionally be liberally watered, choosing 

 the evening for doing so. 



If protecting boxes can be had, then the seeds may be 

 sown at once in the hills and a box placed over each, 

 treating them the same as to airing and watering as though 

 they were in a frame. By either of these modes the plants 

 will escape being devoured by the striped bug. 



Outdoor sowing should be done from the first to the 

 15th of May, sowing about twenty seeds hi a hill and 

 covering them half an inch deep with soil. When such of 

 them as may have escaped the attacks of the bug have de- 

 veloped three or four rough leaves, pull up all but three or 

 four in each hill. Where protectors are used against the 

 ravages of the bug, it will not be necessary to sow more 

 than six or eight seeds in a hill. 



Pickling cucumbers in garden culture should be grown 

 in hills six feet apart each way and well manured with de- 

 composed manure. The seed should be sown from the 

 middle of June to the middle of July, seeding liberally as 

 before, to make up for the ravages of the bug. As soon as 

 the cucumbers are of suitable size for pickling, the beds 



