2 4 



MARKET NURSERY WORK 



Every side shoot, every lateral, every sub-lateral, ad infinitum, 



must be " stopped " at one leaf beyond the rudimentary fruit, 



if a full crop is to be secured, for the more methodically this 



is carried out the more numerous will be the fruits. Sometimes 



these rudimentary fruits show in pairs (see Fig. 8), and this is so 



much to the good providing the roots are fed in proportion to 



what the plant has to do. The old-fashioned extension system 



of allowing the vines to run till all 



available space is covered and taking 



the crops the gods are good enough 



to send, has long since died out, and 



given place to this intensive system 



whereby the crop is more entirely 



under the control of the grower, who 



is able to estimate almost exactly the 



number of cucumbers he is likely to 



cut from a given space that is, as 



far as accuracy may be assured when 



Nature has to have a voice in the 



matter. 



GENERAL TREATMENT 



Watering, syringing, training, stop- 

 ping, feeding, cleaning, pruning, these 

 are the heads comprising the routine 

 work of the cucumber grower. The 

 maintenance of a satisfactory tempera- 

 ture should be under the direct 

 supervision of the practical grower, 



even though he does not do the actual stoking, but the duties 

 coming under these heads are his alone. Let us glance at them. 



Watering. Much as the cucumber demands plenty of moisture 

 let it be distinctly understood that it is not an aquatic. Its 

 feet must not stand in water ; the bed in which it grows must 

 only be healthily moist, not " wet." Stagnant water would 

 speedily rot the roots, and in this connection refer back to our 

 dictum " the bed must be well drained." We insist upon 

 that again. Water standing about the roots would, for one thing, 



FIG. 8. Brace of 

 Cucumbers from i Joint 



