CUCUMBERS 231 



The garden cucumber and the muskmelon, or cantaloupe, belong 

 to the same genus, but to distinct species. The fact that botanists 

 have regarded these plants as closely related has led cultivators to 

 believe that they intercross when grown near each other in the field. 

 This assumption has been used as the basis of the explanation of 

 any inferior quality which might appear in muskmelons, if they had 

 been grown near cucumbers. Many years ago Naudin carried on 

 experiments to determine whether such intercrossing was possible, 

 and arrived at the conclusion that it could not be accomplished 

 under normal conditions. The experience of the writer has con- 

 firmed the results obtained by Naudin, and the reason for poor 

 quality in muskmelons must be sought elsewhere than in cross- 

 fertilization by the cucumber. In fact, were the inferior quality re- 

 ferred to the result of cross-pollination, this would be equivalent to 

 saying that the immediate effect of the pollen of the cucumber upon 

 the muskmelon was sufficient to change the flavor of the fruit. 

 Careful work in the crossing and hybridizing of plants has led to 

 the conclusion that only in a few instances is there any immediate 

 effect of the pollen. In a few plants which have multiple nuclei 

 in the germ cell such immediate effect of pollen is possible ; and 

 where the germ has become differentiated, as it is in the case of 

 corn, there may also be an immediate effect of pollen. This, how- 

 ever, is rare ; and the fact that careful attempts to hybridize the 

 cucumber and muskmelon have failed, renders modification by 

 cross-fertilization with the cucumber practically out of the question. 



Cultivation. Cultivation of the cucumber may be conveniently 

 considered under the three following topics : (i) the cultivation of 

 the cucumber in the open for slicing purposes ; (2) the forcing of 

 the cucumber ; and (3) the cultivation of the cucumber in the open 

 for pickles. Each of these three branches of cucumber culture 

 presents interesting and distinctive methods. 



Cucumbers for slicing purposes. The cultivation of cucumbers for 

 slicing purposes is extensively carried on by truck growers along the 

 Atlantic coast and in the various truck centers of the United States 

 as well as by market gardeners and greenhouse growers near the 

 large cities of the North. Shipments from these regions are made at 

 various seasons corresponding to the latitude in which the work is 

 conducted. Early in the season cucumbers from southern Florida 



