CUCUMBERS 253 



the patch at least three times each week in order to secure the 

 fruits within the range of the sizes which will be accepted by the 

 pickle factories, that is, from 2\ inches to 4 or 5 inches in length. 

 Few farmers have sufficient assistance to allow them to grow more 

 than one or two acres. If the picking of cucumbers were work which 

 could be carried on by children, it would not present so many diffi- 

 culties, but it is men's work, owing to the heaviness of the fruits 

 and to the fact that it requires experience to find them under 

 the leaves. 



Soil. The soil which is best adapted to the growing of cucum- 

 bers in the open ground is a sandy, gravelly, or clayey loam. The 

 sandy loams are best suited to the cultivation of cucumbers for early 

 markets, and gravelly and clayey loams are best for those intended 

 for later harvesting, such as are demanded by the pickle factories. 



The commercial cultivation of cucumbers intended for use by 

 the pickle factories is largely confined to the higher altitudes and 

 latitudes, the long warm season of the South not being as con- 

 genial to the growth and development of this plant as are the cooler 

 and more retentive soils of the North. The pickle industry is there- 

 fore chiefly confined to latitudes north of the city of Washington. 



Planting. The soil is first thoroughly prepared as for the recep- 

 tion of any hoe crop, and is then usually laid off in checks 6 by 

 6 feet or 3 by 6 feet, or in drills 6 feet apart. The particular system 

 employed is a matter of choice to the grower, some claiming that 

 one system is more economical than another. In the long run, 

 however, it is usually best to employ the check-row system, as the 

 cost of cultivation is thereby reduced. The operation of keeping 

 the land free from weeds when the plants are grown in check rows 

 can be almost entirely accomplished by the use of horse-power 

 implements, but when seed has been sown in drills it is difficult 

 to keep out weeds without resorting to hand weeding. When the 

 check-row system is adopted, sufficient seed is scattered promiscu- 

 ously over an area about a foot in circumference to insure a stand 

 of from 4 to 6 plants after the hill has been thinned. From 10 to 

 12 seeds are usually planted. After all danger from injury by 

 insects is past, the plants are thinned, some growers reducing 

 them to 3 or 4 to the hill. Clean cultivation then follows until 

 the vines are sufficiently large to occupy the entire area. 



