244 GARDEN FARMING 



beds at regular intervals and as the plants may require. The work 

 of watering should be carefully done. The same general precau- 

 tions necessary in the care of plants in cold frames should be ob- 

 served here that is, watering should be done in the morning on 

 bright days only, when air can be admitted and when the sun will 

 soon dry the moisture from the leaves. In this way much can be 

 done to prevent such diseases as the damping-off fungus and mil- 

 dew. Extreme care is also necessary to give the plants sufficient 

 air to keep them in a healthy condition. If the atmosphere is 

 allowed to become close and hot, the plants will be weakened and 

 thus rendered more susceptible to the attacks of diseases. The 

 various ways in which the sash may be arranged, to give air, shade, 

 or protection from drafts, are suggested in figure 89. Strong, vigor- 

 ous, rapidly growing plants can be produced under these conditions 

 by skillful management. The advantage of the frame is that the 

 grower has, to a large extent, under his control the amount of water 

 which the plants receive, the time at which it is applied, and the 

 temperature of the surrounding air. These, as will be observed, 

 are important factors at a time of year when the plants cannot 

 safely be placed in the open. 



Forced with lettuce. In some instances where lettuce is used 

 as a companion crop, the cucumbers are started in a separate cold 

 frame, hotbed, or greenhouse in quart berry boxes, which, when 

 the plants have attained a height of from 8 to 12 inches and the 

 cold frames are ready for their reception, are buried at intervals of 

 2 or 3 feet through the center of the cold frame, just as are the 

 seeds when planted directly in the soil. This plan is economical 

 of space in the cold frame during the early life of the cucumber 

 plants, and if the plants are started in a greenhouse or hotbed, it 

 enables the grower to bring them on earlier than he could nor- 

 mally in the cold frame. It also allows the cold frame to be used 

 a longer time during the season for the production of lettuce. 



Successful forcing. The key to success in this work is a thorough 

 understanding of the needs of the cucumber, good equipment as 

 regards sash, a sufficient water supply always at one's command, 

 and great diligence in regard to the manipulation of the sash to 

 prevent direct drafts of air and to provide at all times sufficient 

 fresh air to keep the plants in a temperature which will induce a 



