370 TYORCING GARDEN. 
tender annual, requiring, in England, the assistance of arti, 
ficial heat to bring it to perfection. It properly belongs to 
the class of culinary vegetables, being used in salads and 
pickles. It has been long cultivated in England, where, 
however, its culture requires the closest attention of the 
gardener. The sorts commonly grown are, 
The Harly Frame. Short Green Prickly. 
Sion House. Green Turkey, 
Long Green Prickly. Prize-fighter. 
Of these, the long and short py are well suited ‘ir 
ridges in the open air. 
The culture of early cucumbers so much resembles that 
of the melon that it would be useless repetition to enter 
into minute details. The cucumber, indeed, is somewhat 
the hardier, and therefore in summer requires less heat; 
but in every other respect the management of the plants is 
precisely the same. The first crop of cucumbers is gene- 
rally sown in the end of December, or the beginning of 
January; a second in March, and a third in June.. In 
summer, cucumber plants, after they have been fairly estab- 
lished, require scarcely any other attention than to thin 
them out occasionally, and to supply them with water. 
Cucumbers, particularly the prickly sorts, are often 
raised in the warmer months under hand-glasses; A cavity 
is made in a border in front of a wall or other warm place, 
and is filled with hot dung. This dung is covered with 
earth, and two or three plants are put into it, and sheltered 
with a hand-glass. They are watered and dressed from 
time to time; and by this means a sufficient supply of small 
cucumbers, or givkins, is obtained for pickling. 
In the southern counties of England, pickling cucum 
bers are easily raised without any artificial heat, being 
sown in drills in the open ground. The earth is made fine 
