cue 



[ 290 ] 



cue 



lormed five feet apart, the seed may be 

 sown six or eight in each. 



Seed may also be sown beneath a 

 hedge of similar aspect, and the plants 

 either trained to it or to bushy branches 

 placed perpendicular. If the weather 

 be dry, it is requisite to Avater the 

 patches moderately, two or three days 

 after sowing. In four or five days, if 

 the season be genial, the plants will 

 make their appearance, and until they 

 have attained their rough leaves, 

 should be guarded from the small 

 birds, who will often destroy the whole 

 crop by devouring the seminal leaves. 



If the season be cold and unfavour- 

 able, plants may be raised in pots under 

 a frame or hand-glasses, as directed for 

 those crops ; to be thence transplanted, 

 when of about a month's growth, or 

 when the third rough leaf appears, into 

 the open ground, shelter being afforded 

 them during the night. Water must 

 be given every two or three days, in 

 proportion to the dryness of the season, 

 applying it during the afternoon or 

 early in the morning. 



Only three or four plants may be 

 allowed to grow together in a patch, 

 and these pressed far apart. The train- 

 ing must be as carefully attended to as 

 for the other crops, but stopping is 

 seldom necessary, as the plants are 

 rarely super -luxuriant. They will 

 come into production in August and 

 September. 



To obtain Seed. For the production 

 of seed, some fruit must be left of the 

 earliest forced production, as this is 

 found to vegetate and produce fruit in 

 much less time than that raised under 

 hand-glasses, from whence the seed 

 for the open ground crops is usually 

 obtained. The fruit that is left to pro- 

 duce seed should grow near the root, 

 and upon the main stem, not more than 

 one being left on a plant. They must 

 remain as long as the seed can obtain 

 any nourishment from the plant, which 

 it does whilst the footstalk remains 

 green; when this withers, and the rind 

 of the cucumber lias attained its full 

 yellow hue, they may be gathered and 

 reared in the sun until they begin to 

 decay. The seed then being .scraped 

 out into a vessel, allowed to remain I'm- 



eight or ten days, and frequently stirred 

 until the pulp attached to it is decayed, 

 may be cleansed by frequent agitation 

 in water ; the refuse rises to the top 

 and passes away with the liquid. 

 Being thoroughly dried by exposure 

 to the air for three or four days it 

 is then fit for storing. Seed three or 

 four years old is found to be best for 

 use, producing less luxuriant, but more 

 productive plants. 



Propagation by Cuttings. Cuttings 

 five or six inches in length, taken from 

 the tops of bearing branches of vigorous 

 plants, about the end of September, or 

 early in October, planted in pots of rich 

 mould and plunged in a hotbed or bark- 

 bed in a stove, will take root, if regu- 

 larly watered, in less than a fortnight, 

 and may then be planted in a hotbed 

 for fruiting, Avhich they will do as soon 

 as the roots can support them, perfect- 

 ing the fruit before Christmas. They 

 may thus be had in succession, and 

 being propagated from year to year, 

 are rendered as it were perennial. The 

 plants are less succulent, and conse- 

 quently less liable to damp off, or suffer 

 from the low temperature to which they 

 are liable to be exposed in severe sea- 

 sons. Mr. Mearns puts four inches 

 and a half of mould in pots nine inches 

 deep, in which the cuttings are planted 

 and watered, the tops of the pots being 

 covered with fiat pieces of glass, which 

 answers the purpose of a hand-light, 

 whilst the sides of the pot afford a suf- 

 ficient shade until the roots are formed. 

 When the plants have afforded their 

 first crop, any small fruit must not be 

 waited for, but the plants be cut back 

 to the lowest shoot, the mould gently 

 stirred, and a little fresh spread over 

 the surface ; the same attention must 

 be paid them as before, when they will 

 shoot afresh and produce a good crop. 



Diseases. The cucumber is liable to 

 be attacked by the mildew, canker, yum- 

 ntiiHj (extravasated sap), and dvfunnity. 

 See those articles. The fruit is also 

 liable to bitterness, an ill quality usually 

 removed by increasing the temperature, 

 and exposure to the light. It arises 

 from an imperfect elaboration of the 

 juices; those in the neck of the cu- 

 cumber being least digested, are always 



