22 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



moisture. The most intensive methods of cultivation preclude 

 the admission of fresh air, the direct force of the sun being 

 counteracted by the density of the atmosphere within the house 

 and the consequent film of moisture on the glass which arrests 

 and partly disperses the rays ; but whether the system adopted 

 be intensive or otherwise, the three essentials remain absolutely 

 imperative. 



The cucumber grower raises his own plants and it is best that 

 he should do so. His earliest sowing is made with the new year, 

 and the seedlings are raised in a temperature never falling below 

 60, springing to 70 during the day. Where the difference is 

 greater, sinking, say, at times to 50 and rising at others to 75, 

 we find the seedlings germinate irregularly and a proportion come 

 deformed and useless. In sowing, we usually allot one seed to 

 a small 60 pot which we only half fill with soil, and plunge in 

 the warm fibre of the propagating pit (see Fig. 7). At the time 

 of sowing we water heavily, after which no further watering is 

 necessary until germination has taken place seven to fourteen 

 days later. If the seeds do not show signs of life at the 

 expiration of the longer period there is something wrong and 

 they should be thrown out. 



For a few days after germination the seedlings should be kept 

 in the same warm position, and only when they are well up and 

 beginning to show the first rough leaf they may be transferred 

 to the open stage in the same house, where they will enjoy the 

 benefit of the light and nearly the same temperature as before. 



While the plants are developing, the house or houses should 

 be in course of preparation for them. We prefer that this house 

 should be narrow rather than broad, to accommodate a single 

 row of plants each side, which, as they grow, will be trained up 

 near to the glass. In wide houses it is usual to have two addi- 

 tional rows equidistant from the centre of the house, but as the 

 plants get up, the two outer rows exclude the light from the inner 

 rows, so that after a certain stage not more than half a crop can 

 be taken from them. 



Light plays an important part in their culture, for it alone 

 can counteract the tendency to weak and elongated growth 

 set up by moisture, heat and but little air. The number of 



