CUCUMBERS. 171 



to advantage, but it will not pay to ship them. Some 

 cuke growers find it profitable to give the best of 

 them to the railroad employees and laborers. 



FIG. 24. 



The ordinary vegetable crate is used for shipping. 

 They should be picked while dry, taken to the packing 

 house, sorted and crated. They are laid in quickly 

 and evenly ; pressed down with a lever, and the crate 

 nailed. The product should not be bruised and not be 

 loose enough to shake in the crate in transit. It is ne- 

 cessary to pick a field three times a week. The amount 

 that an acre will produce seems incredible to those 

 who have not raised a full crop ; while two to three 

 hundred crates may be considered a fair crop, we have 

 reports of six hundred, eight hundred, and even nine 

 hundred crates to the acre. 



SAVING SEED. 



This seed may be kept ten years without serious loss 

 of vitality, though fresh is preferred. If the shipping 

 season should be short, the later part of the crop may 

 be allowed to ripen. Saving seed is a simple, easy and 

 profitable employment. The ripe cucumbers are gath- 

 ered, of course only the perfectly formed ones being 



