388 Culture of the Cucumber during White) 



s 



linings ; and d, a 9-inch wall which surrounds the whole. I should 

 have given you my method of treating the cucumber, from the 

 sowing of the seed to the cutting of the fruit, or all through the 

 season ; but the subject of late has been very largely treated 

 upon, and most gardeners think their own way best. It may 

 be sufficient for me to say, that I grow them on the trellis sys- 

 tem, or Gould's plan. 



Stoke Place, January 27. 1834. 



Art. XIV. On the Culture of the Cucumber during the gloomy Months 

 of Winter. By Mr. James Young, Gardener to J. Pulteney, Esq., 

 Northerwood, New Forest, Hants. 



According to promise, I now lay before the readers of your 

 Magazine my method of obtaining a plentiful crop of large well 

 flavoured cucumbers, during the dark and gloomy months of 

 our winters. I grow my plants in a flued pit, heated by linings 

 of hot dung. The brickwork is exactly on Mr. Macphail's plan ; 

 only, instead of having the pits filled with tan, leaves, brick rub- 

 bish, or stones, I have flues carried under each light, low 

 enough to admit of three strong rafters of oak being built into 

 the flues, the length of the pit : these are covered with oak 

 planks, 1 ft. wide, with half an inch left open between each 

 plank, to drain off the water from the plants. The flues are car- 

 ried up brick on edge close, so that no steam from the dung is 

 admitted into the pit. The rafters over the flues are 2 in. above 

 them, so that the heat rises freely into the pit ; the floor to sup- 

 port the mould in which the plants are to be grown is 9 in. 

 lower than the side flues ; so that there is a hot-air chamber under 

 the plants, which gives them a strong heat, with no risk of burn- 

 ing the roots; while the side flues keep the atmosphere in the 

 frame corresponding with the heat that the roots receive from 

 the hot-air chamber underneath. When the plants extend to 

 the sides of the frame, I cover the flues with mould, so that the 

 plants may have at least 1 5 in. of soil for their roots to grow in. 

 I sow the seed on a slight hot-bed in April, and the plants are 

 ready in May to be planted in a bed of rich earth. I then sup- 

 ply them well with water during the summer; and, by the 15th 

 of September, I take as many cuttings of the plants as I think I 

 shall want, and put them into 48-sized pots, one cutting in each 

 pot. I then plunge the pots in a hot-bed, and shade them when 

 the sun is strong. They will root freely in a few days. By the 

 end of the month, I shift them into 32-sized pots ; and, by the 

 20th of October, plant them where they are to produce their 

 fruit during the winter. Two plants under each light, I find, do 

 better than more, and, if the cuttings have been well managed, 

 fruit will be set on them before turning them out of their pots. 



