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country, which was in 1597* when gardening 

 was in it's infant state. He directs, that 

 they should be covered with mats over hoops, 

 as glasses were riot then known. 



Lord Bacon, who wrote about the same 

 period, says, " cucumbers will prove more ten- 

 der and dainty if their seeds be steeped 

 (little) in milk : the cause may be, for that 

 the seed being mollified in uiilk, will be too 

 weak to draw the grosser juices of the earth, 

 but only the finer :" he adds, " cucumbers 

 will be less watery if the pit where you set 

 them be filled up half way with chaff or 

 small sticks, and then pour earth upon them ; 

 for cucumbers, as it seemeth, do exceedingly 

 affect moisture, and over-drink themselves, 

 which this chaff or chips forbiddeth." This 

 great author also states, that " it hath been 

 practised to cut off the stalks of cucumbers, 

 immediately after bearing, close by the earth ; 

 and then to cast a pretty quantity of earth 

 upon the plant that remaineth, and they will 

 bear the next year fruit, long before the or- 

 dinary time. The cause may be, for that 

 the sap goeth down the sooner, and is not 

 spent in the stalk or leaf, which remaineth 

 after the fruit ; where note, that the dying in 

 the winter of the roots of plants that are 

 annual, seemeth to be partly caused by the 



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