HORTICULTURE. 



245 



ture. 



great care i* necessary to the giving of air, in order to 

 trengthen the plants, and prevent them from drawing 

 up weak ; at the same time, too free access of cold air 

 would probably kill them. When the seed-leaves are 

 half an inch broad, some of the best plants are 

 into small pots, generally three into each pot, 



having been previously filled with light rich 

 id sunk into toe bed to acquire equal tempera- 

 The plants not patted are pricked out on the 

 surface of the bed, at such a distance from each other, 

 a* to permit the lifting of each with a small ball of 

 earth at the time of final transplanting. Less or more 

 water ia given, according to the state of the weather, 

 end the warmth of the bed*. 



The young plant* are flapped at the first joint. This 

 operation consists in pinching off closely the runner- 

 bud which springs from the axilla of the second rough 

 leaf: it i* beat performed when the end of the shoot ia 

 little bigger than a large pin'* head. In this way a 

 aliia*,ia and more compact growth i* promoted, and the 

 jajieMOB of fruitful lateral runner* i* secured. When 

 the plant* have formed one joint, and when the first 

 two rough leave* are from two to three inches broad, 

 which ia generally the ease in a month, they are ready 

 for final transplanting, or ringing out. as it is techni- 

 cally called. There must now be in readiness a fruit- 

 ing hot-bed, or several beds, covered with two-light or 

 three-light frame*. A* in the case of melon*, a email 

 hillock of earth, somewhat less than a foot high, is 

 formed under the centre of each light, the rest of the 

 bad being covered only to the depth of two or three 

 inches. Into these bed*, when of a proper lirnpera. 

 tore, the plants in pot* are placed, jiianiibia; the ball 

 of earth rut re about the roots ; in general three plena* 

 an act in the middle of each hillock. If the plants 

 have not been potted, they are transferred with a* much 

 oil adhering to them a* may be. The frames are co- 

 vered with mat* at night, which are taken off through 

 the day. Air i* given by tilting the upper end of the 

 glass cover, more or lea* according to the state of the 

 " of the hot-bed. In a dry season, water 

 given ; and whoa the beat of the bed de- 

 igs are applied. Aa the plants advance in 

 the other part* of the aurface of the bed aw 

 fine* up marly to an equality with the hillocks In 

 .July, the nightly coverinV of mat* ia omitted, and the 

 glass covers are drawn fully off lhieo.ah the day. 



11 the Human appear, *ome of ibe male Mower, 

 re ahaim over the fsanals, as in the case of the me- 

 lon. 80 certainly rarinei ia this opualion, that it is 

 aled ettimg the fruit- When mcwmbi is are grow n in 



ifr.mth, 

 rilled 



drub in the open group*!, the impregnation is entrusted 

 .-njiri-ly to the agency of the winds and of hums. 



chiefly in admitting air as freely aa the state of the wea- 

 ther will permit, and in affording liberal but judicious 

 Mpplin of water, generally avoiding the foliagr ; al- 

 though a sprinkling upon the 

 dvant 



disadvantage 



leaves appear* not to be 

 for we know that cucumbers thrive 



better in a moist than in a dry heat ; and if the ml 

 Bider appear, water is the remedy. 



Sometimes a crop of cuoanhera ia raited by means 

 of hand giasaea, placed upon can tics containing hot 

 dang. Instead of hand-gut****, oiled paper cover* are 

 occasionally used: these remain night and day till the 

 middle of June, and in general answer very well, all 

 danger of frost being then over. 



d crop, or drilled cucum- 

 i* the proper sowing time. 

 this : the ground being 



07. For the natural ground 

 ber.. the beginning of June i* 

 The plan usually followed i* t 



made fine and level, shallow circular hollows are form- Fruit 

 ed with the hand, a foot wide, and half an inch deep in Garitri. 

 the middle. The distance between each hollow is about rj^mj^ 

 three feet and a half; the distance between the rows of 

 hollows, between five and six feet. Eight or ten seeds 

 are sown in each cavity, to be afterwards thinned out 

 to three or four. They are watered two or three times 

 a week according to the state of the weather, preferring 

 the morning or the evening for this operation. Pick- 

 ling cucumbers are gathered chiefly from the middle to 

 the end of August ; and they are best when not more 

 than three inches in length. Cucumbers form a very 

 extensive and profitable article to the London market 

 gardeners. In March they fetch above a guinea a do- 

 zen ; in August and September they are sold at a pen- 

 ny a dozen. One village (Sandy in Bedfordshire) has 

 been known to furnish 10,000 bushels of drilled cucum- 

 ber* in one week. 



268. Some persons are careless about the seed which 

 they use, or at least are ready to sow any kind that is 

 recommended to them. This is wrong: when one ia 

 pnaarisrrl of an approved kind, the safest way is to pre- 

 serve seed of it. With this view, one good fruit is al- 

 lowed to remain till it become yellow ; it is then pla- 

 ced, upright, in the full sun for some weeks, to ac- 

 quire the most perfect maturation. The individual fruit 

 having moat pncklea is commonly selected for this pur- 

 pose. The seeds are afterwards thoroughly washed from 

 the pulp, dried, and tied in paper bags, to remain for 

 a year at least. 



966l Curious cultivators sometimes amuse themselves 

 by planting cutt.ngi of late cucumber plants in the be- 

 ginning of October : these, if placed in a hot-house or 

 a weD regulated hot-bed frame, grow freely, and pro- 

 duce fruit about mid-winter. But in order to have cu- 

 cumber* at this season, a better plan is, to make them 

 succeed melons in a flued pit, these being generally 

 ripened off by the middle or end of October. The seed- 

 ling cucumber* may be previously reared in small data 

 hand* the melon*, so as to be ready to take their 

 places. They are watered once in four or five days, 

 and commonly over the foliage, especially when, as 

 winter advance*, the fire-heat is made stronctr. All the 

 piaMie, neceaaary at this season, is to stop die shoots 

 aa they shew fruit, at a joint or two beyond the fruit. 

 A few cucumbers are thus procured at the end of De- 

 cember or the beginning of January. 



Gavnfc 



870. Allied to the melon and cucumber are the dif- GounU 

 rent kind* afgotiidi. two or three of which are some- 

 times cultivated, and may bare be mentioned. 



The Pumpkin, Piunpion, or more correctly Pumpinn, Pumpkin. 

 i* the fruit of the ( ucurbita Pepo of Linrurus. Tin- 

 pumpkin was the melon or inillon of our early horti- 

 culturists, the true melon being formerly distinguished 

 by the name of Musk-melon. The pumpkin is now 

 cultivated principally for ornament or curiosity ; but in 

 some of the village* of England, the country people 

 plant it on dunghils, at the back of their bouses, and 

 train the aboota to a great length over grass. When the 

 fruit is ripe, they cut a hole on one side, and having 

 taken out the seeds, fill the void space with sliced ap- 

 ple*, adding a little sugar and spice, and then bake the 

 whole. 



The Water-nulon, or Citrul, (the fruit of the Cucur- Wsitr-mc. 

 Uta titmlku, L.) although it form* both the food and loo. 

 the drink of the inhabitant* of Egypt for several mouths 

 in the year, i* little regarded in Britain. It requires 



