26 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



such that it would dislocate any growth upon which it found 

 itself if support was not given, so that the tie answers the 

 double purpose of fixing the growth and supporting the fruit. 



Training calls for deftness and judgment, but might be 

 entrusted to partly skilled hands, for but little practice is needed 

 to give the necessary experience. Where plants are grown, 

 say, 4 feet apart, they begin to overlap long before they have 

 finished their growth and the crossing and re-crossing of each 

 other cannot be avoided ; but they need never be jumbled 

 together in a mass, as a careful trainer will spread them out into 

 a network, with every growth keeping its own direction and 

 procuring its share of light. If every square foot is to yield its 

 due quota of fruit it must be made to do so by the proper training 

 of the vines. 



Feeding. The cucumber is a gross feeder and will quickly 

 use up the virtues of the compost in which it is growing. Even 

 if it did not, the copious waterings wash away many of the salts 

 contained in the soil and necessitates replenishment. Organic 

 manures up to a certain point are distinctly the best, but the 

 application of this in a natural form would soon be overdone, 

 and when the point of repletion is reached a little nitrate of soda 

 or some other such quick acting agent should be used. 



A mulching of manure should be given directly the first 

 flush of fruit has been cut, and unless this is attended to the 

 plant will show signs of exhaustion by producing stunted or 

 ill-shaped fruits which are almost without value. When this 

 happens, the faulty fruit should be removed, a light dressing 

 of nitrate be used, and the plants nursed back to health and 

 vigour. It is best not to allow the vines to be damaged in such 

 a way, and this can only be prevented by timely mulching or 

 other feeding. 



There comes a time when feeding has no further effect, but 

 that is only when the natural vigour and vitality has finally 

 departed and the plant has done its work. Its end has come, 

 and henceforth it will only cumber the ground. 



Pruning. The pruning consists (apart from the pinching) 

 of cutting out any exhausted wood to make room for younger 

 growths which are already starting, or which it is thought the 



