CUCUMBER. 125 



of October, planted in pots of rich mould, plunged into 

 the bark bed and shaded until they have struck, will pro- 

 duce fruit before Christinas. It is also recorded in 

 Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, that Thomas Fowler, gar- 

 dener to Sir Nathaniel Gould, at Stoke Newington, pre- 

 sented King George the First with a brace of well-grown 

 cucumbers, on New Year's Day, 1721. The seeds from 

 which they were raised were sown on the 25th of Sep- 

 tember. 



His late revered Majesty had his table supplied with 

 cucumbers, at all seasons of the year, by Mr. Aiton, 

 under whose care the Royal Gardens of this kingdom have 

 produced, in the highest perfection, nearly all the known 

 fruits of the world. 



Cucumbers are now grown with so much success by the 

 aid of steam, that the London Markets have been regularly 

 and abundantly supplied with them during the last winter. 

 We have lately seen some pits for growing melons and 

 cucumbers which have not only obviated the necessity of 

 horse-dung, but by the more regular heat which the 

 steam conveyed to the mould, the plants were kept in a 

 more healthy state; and produced fruit so abundantly 

 that one pit yielded about two hundred brace of fine cu- 

 cumbers during the most uncongenial month of the year. 



When cucumbers are thus raised earlier in the season 

 than the bees leave their cells, or when the frames are 

 kept too close to admit these little animals, the gardener 

 should attentively observe the time when the anther 

 bursts, and apply it to the stigma of the fertile flower, 

 as the fruit is greatly assisted by being thus fecundated. 



Mr. Martells is said to have lately cut-from his garden 

 at Southsea, Hants, a cucumber measuring five feet in 

 length : we conclude it must have been the Cucumis 

 jlexuosus, snake melon. 



