29 



BULLETIN OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



CUCUMBER GROWING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



By Prof. Geo. E. Stone, Professor of Botany, ilasBachuaetts Agricultural College. 



The cucumber industry is of some importance in this State, when one 

 takes into consideration the amount of fruit grown under glass and that 

 grown out of doors. It was not many years ago that cucumbers could 

 be obtained only during their natural season. This, however, is not 

 true at the present time, inasmuch as cucumbers can be obtained in the 

 market at any season of the year. In some sections of the State there 

 are many greenhouses devoted to the production of winter cucumbers 

 under glass, which frequently bring a high price. These are not only 

 grown to supply the Massachusetts markets, but many of them are 

 shipped to New York. The winter prices of cucumbers range from 

 $0 75 to f 3 per dozen, according to the season, and even at $1 per dozen 

 there is a fair return for the care involved and labor expended on their 

 production, providing diseases do not interfere with the normal yield of 

 the crop. The production of greenhouse cucumbers in this State is on 

 the increase, as shown by the building of many new houses each year, 

 which are either wholly or partially devoted to cucumber growing. 

 The increase in the number of cucumber houses is not so great as in 

 those devoted to lettuce. Since, however, luost lettuce growers raise a 

 spring crop of cucumbers in their houses each year, the production has 

 increased. The groAving of outdoor cucumbers is carried on extensively 

 in some localities. In one small section of the Connecticut valley 100 

 acres or more are grown. 



The Cucumber Plant. 



The cucumber {Cumiviis salivus L.) belongs to the cucurbitacea; or 



gourd family, to which other important economic plants, such as the 



melon, squash, pumpkin, etc., belong. It is a dicotyledoneous plant, 



i.e., it has two cotyledons or seed leaves, which are familiar to all wlio 



