KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. CHAP. 



should be a little warm. Every one will be a judge when 

 the earth is so dry as to require water ; but care should 

 be taken not to let the water fall in great quantities just 

 upon the stems of the plants at any stage of their growth, 

 for that is apt to rot them. This early cucumber bed 

 will keep on bearing very well until the latter end of 

 May, by which time, another bed, made about the middle 

 or latter end of March will have succeeded it. The plants 

 for this second crop of cucumbers are to be raised in pots 

 put into the cucumber-bed, last mentioned. They are 

 to be managed like those for the first bed, except 

 that they must be sown in a pot, instead of being sown in 

 a hill. The bed for these plants need not be above two 

 feet and a half high, or thereabouts. It will probably 

 want a slight lining ; but the materials need not be equal 

 to those made use of in the making of the early bed. In 

 the case of this latter bed, much air may be given, and 

 the covering of a mat, or two at most, and that only in 

 the night-time, will be sufficient. In April, some more 

 plants may be sown in a pot in this last bed, and repotted 

 as before j and, in the middle of June, these may go out 

 into hills (under hand-glasses or without) in the open 

 ground, there to produce cucumbers for pickling:, or, 

 indeed, for using in any other way, from the middle of 

 July until the time that the frost comes. Thus, will there 

 be a succession of cucumbers, from the middle of March 

 to the month of October. As to sorts, great attention 

 must be paid j for, some sorts produce their fruit a great 

 deal quicker than others. There is one called the early 

 frame cucumber ; another is called the early cluster cucum- 

 ber, another Mie long prickly cucumber. The early frame 

 has doubtless been found to be the quickest in coming to 



