^6 ON THE CULTURl 



ture, and therefore will not fink fo much after being 

 put into the frames, as if put in when lels rotten. 



The leaves of which I make the vegetable mould , arc 

 a mixture of the elm, lime, beech, fycamore, horfe and 

 fweet chefnut, fpruce and Scotch fir, walnut, laurel, 

 oak, evergreen oak, afh, &c. and among them are wi- 

 thered grafs and weeds of various forts. This vege- 

 table mould, without a mixture of any thing befides, 

 is what I ufe for growing cucumbers in, and, by ex- 

 perience, 1 find it preferable to any other moulds, 

 earths, or compofts whatever, either in my new me- 

 thod of a brick bed, or in ihe old method of a bed 

 made of hot dung. 



Before I ufe the m.ould I have it run "hrough a 

 coarfe ikreen or fieve to free it of the bits of (licks, 

 and o^ the cones and tree feeds, fuch as that of the 

 horfe chefnut, and of the fpruce and Scotch fir. 



Cucumbers will grow in almofl: any fort of mould, 

 though not with the fame degree of vigour, provided 

 they be fupplied with a fuiBciency of heat, water, 

 and air. 



In Britain, efpecially in the winter and fpring 

 months, one of the principal caufes, without which 

 cucumbers cannot be produced, is deficient, and 

 that is, heat. In every county, and in every parifh, 

 and in every month of the year, earth, water, and 

 air, may be found ; but in every part, even in the 

 mofl fouthern counties of England, there is a defici- 

 ency of heat : For, as far I know, that vegetable 

 called cucumber, does not, in any part of this coun, 

 try, come to any degree of peifeftion without fome 



ftlTiflancQ 



