CUCUMBEB 



VEGETABLE GARDEN 



CUCUMBEB 1157 



frame, that it may very well find a place 

 in the pages of this book. 



Any time from the middle to the end 

 of February a hotbed may be made up 

 in the way described at p. 46 by means of 

 good rich stable manure, leaves iScc. A 

 warm and sheltered position in the garden 

 should be chosen for this hotbed, so that 

 the temperature will not be reduced by 

 cold winds. The manure having sunk 

 down or settled, the bed should be again 

 made up to the proper depth of 3-4 ft. 

 AU the rank steam and heat must be 

 allowed to escape from the hotbed before 

 it is safe to plant. The sides of the frame 

 should also be well sunk into the bed, so 

 as to retain the heat for as long a period 

 as possible. 



Sowmg the seed. — The best way to 

 raise Cucumbers is to sow the seeds singly 

 in rich sandy soil in small pots, from 

 the beginning to the middle of February, 

 and plunge in bottom heat, either in a 

 greenhouse or on a hotbed already in 

 working order. When the seedlings have 

 made one or two rough leaves beyond the 

 seedling ones they may be transferred to 

 larger pots and grown on so as to be 

 ready for planting in the hotbed about 

 the middle of March. 



Soil cmd General Treatment. — A rich 

 turfy loam gives excellent results with 

 Cucumbers, and with it may be mixed 

 a little well-decomposed stable manure. 

 Each plant should be placed in the centre 

 of a mound of soil 9-1*2 in. deep, and well 

 watered in with tepid water. The lights 

 should be kept close for two or three 

 weeks after planting, and only a smaU 

 crack of air is necessary afterwards when 

 the plants are in fuU growth. During 

 very hot or bright sunshine the plants 

 may be shaded lightly with a bit of 

 canvas or matting, which however should 

 be removed as early as possible, as 

 Cucumbers like plenty of light. The 

 plants like plenty of water when growing, 

 and the foliage should also be well sprinkled 

 or syringed two or three times a day, as, if 

 the atmosphere is allowed to become at 

 all dry, the leaves are almost sure to be 

 attacked by a pest known as Bed Spider — 

 a tiny insect that collects in great 

 numbers usually on the under surface 

 of the leaves, giving them a rusty 

 appearance. 



Training a/nd Stopping. — Cucum- 

 bers grown in frames must be trained 

 in a somewhat different manner from 



those grown in greenhouses. In the 

 latter the roughish climbing stems, 

 or ' vines ' as gardeners call them, may 

 be allowed to reach the ftiU length of 

 the side of the house before they are 

 stopped. But in frames where space 

 is limited the main stems are usually 

 stopped — ^that is, the tops are pinched 

 off — when about 2 ft. long. This causes 

 the development of side shoots from the 

 axils of the leaves, and it is on these side 

 shoots that the Cucumber fruits must 

 be looked for. When the side shoots 

 have developed one or two fruits, they 

 may also be stopped at the joint beyond 

 the fruit, not immediately next to it. The 

 fruits will thus secure a greater amount 

 of sap and begin to increase in size more 

 quickly. It may be mentioned that the 

 ' stopping ' or pinching out of shoots is 

 always best done with the finger and 

 thumb ; the end of the shoot is thus 

 squeezed together, and a clean flat 

 surface is not left as when cut with a 

 knife, and 'bleeding' (see p. 28), or an 

 exhausting overflow of sap, does not take 

 place to such an extent. 



When the fruits are attaining a fair 

 size they may be inserted into cylindrical 

 glass tubes 12-15 in. long, placed on the 

 surface of the soil. They will thus be 

 kept nice and straight and look better 

 than when allowed to become more or 

 less crooked. Where glass cylinders are 

 not used, an excellent substitute may be 

 made by nailing 3 pieces of lath or batten 

 together in the form of a trough, a cross 

 section of which is represented by the 

 letter U- By placing the fruits in such 

 receptacles they are kept in a symmetrical 



A reference to the natural order 

 Cucurbitacese to which the Cucumber 

 belongs will show that it is a ' monoecious ' 

 plant, that is, male and feruale flowers are 

 borne separately but on the same plant. 

 As it is, however, quite unnecessary 

 that the female flowers should be fertilised 

 with pollen from the male flowers to 

 produce fruit, the male flowers, which are 

 readily distinguished by not having an 

 ovary behind as in the female flowers, 

 may be pinched off as they appear. The 

 female flowers are readily recognised 

 even in the youngest state by means 

 of the small warty cylindrical ovary 

 which becomes the future Cucumber 

 without having been fertilised. Indeed, 

 except when it is desired to save seeds, 



