92 FARM-GARDENING AND SEED-GROWING. 



Seed, When grown for seed the same course must be 

 pursued as when grown for market, except that they need 

 not be planted until near the first of June. To insure a 

 large crop, the first setting must be cut when young, and 

 the second blossoms will yield more than twofold. Some 

 advise pinching the ends of the young vines to produce 

 fruitfulness, but I have never seen any benefit from it. 

 With pure stock there is but little choice in selecting. A 

 few of the very best may be taken for stock seed, but 

 when properly grown the whole crop will be even and 

 uniform. When the fruit is ripe, which may be known by 

 their changing color from green to white or yellow, ac- 

 cording to the variety, they must be gathered into a barn 

 or shed to be cut. This is work which may be done on 

 wet or stormy days, but it is not advisable to let the 

 cucumbers remain long in a heap, for they will soon rot 

 after removal from the vines, which makes dirty work, 

 and causes some loss of seed. The cucumbers must be 

 cut lengthwise, and the seeds scraped out by the thumb 

 and fingers into a tub, from whence they must be emptied 

 into tight barrels to sour, in order to remove the mucil- 

 aginous pulp in which each seed is encased. The barrels 

 must not be more than three fourths full, for in course of 

 fermentation the mass increases in bulk nearly one fourth, 

 for which this allowance must be made. 



The whole should be thoroughly stirred at least once 

 every day, and will be ready for washing in about five 

 days, or when the seed all settles to the bottom, though it 

 may remain longer without injury if solely in the natural 

 juice. The washing must be done on a clear day, and 

 commenced early in the morning, that the seed may be- 

 come partially dry by night. Take a large tub (usually a 

 half-hogshead), fill it two thirds with water, and pass the 

 seed through a No. 3 sieve, into the water ; the sieve 

 should be held partially under, and worked about in the 

 water ; this will retain any pieces of skin or coarse matter 



