326 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



while the market growers rarely, if ever, bother 

 with them. Small three-quarter-span and span- 

 roofed houses, the former facing south, and the 

 latter running from north to south and of any 

 length, are suitable, and if ample boiler power 

 and a sufficiency of hot- water pipes are provided 

 to easily keep the night temperature up to about 

 70°, Cucumber culture will be a comparatively 

 easy matter. Pipes to supply bottom-heat are 

 frequently provided, but are not absolutely in- 

 dispensable. 



Cucumbers ought never to have a great mass 

 of manure and soil to root in, the best results 

 attending the practice of growing them in raised 

 hillocks of open compost, and with plenty of top- 

 heat these mounds of soil soon become and con- 

 tinue to be quite as hot as required. 



The plants should be trained over trellises 

 fixed to the roof at a distance of fully 9 inches 

 from the glass, another 3 inches being desirable 

 if head-room admits. 



liaising the Plants. — It is of the greatest im- 

 portance that the start be made with strong, 

 clean young plants. During winter and early 

 spring a brisk bottom-heat is needed to cause 

 the seeds to germinate strongly. Sow them 

 singly in 2 J-inch pots and treat them as already 

 advised for plants for hot-bed culture. If wanted 

 very early in the year the first sowing may be 

 made in the first week in December, and this 

 batch be fruited in pots. To succeed these, sow 

 again early in January, the plants raised this 

 time doing good service during April and May, 

 a few Cucumbers probably being cut from them 

 in March. It is unwise to keep old or exhausted 

 plants, the better plan being to raise young 

 plants in readiness to take their place. This is 

 the market-growers' plan, many of whom grow 

 and exhaust three sets of plants before the 

 winter arrives. Before the old plants are really 

 exhausted, sow more seeds, allowing from a fort- 

 night to a month, according to the time of year, 

 for the development of the plants. If at any 

 time the young plants are ready for planting 

 before they are wanted, either throw them 

 away and raise more, or shift into 6-inch pots 

 and keep them growing strongly a w r eek or so 

 longer. 



It is possible to cut Cucumbers within six 

 weeks of the date of sowing the seeds, but this 

 is very sharp work, and eight or nine weeks is 

 nearer the mark. The most quickly -grown fruit 

 are the best as regards quality, and if at any 

 time bitterness is complained of, this may be said 

 to be principally due to slow growth, coupled 

 probably with an unhealthy root action. Young 



plants produce the handsomest fruit, a fact that 

 would-be prize-winners should bear in mind. 



Boot Treatment. — Reference has already been 

 made to the kinds of soil or compost that suit 

 Cucumbers, and it only remains to be added 

 that a great mass of this ought never to be used 

 at one time. More failures have resulted from 

 ignorance of this fact than from any other cause, 

 or perhaps all other causes combined. Instead 

 of providing a bed of manure, or manure and 

 leaves, beneath a great heap or ridge of soil, the 

 former should be dispensed with altogether, and 

 the latter used far more sparingly than of old. 

 It is true hot-beds, a relic of former days before 

 fire-heat was so common, produce a strong 

 growth at the outset, but they decay quickly, 

 and the roots that have been enticed down into 

 them soon fail. The roots must be kept con- 

 stantly active on and near the surface of the 

 soil, and once they are driven, or allowed to 

 descend, deeply, or to where they derive little or 

 no benefit from the warmth and air in a house, 

 they no longer form sap-producing root-fibres 

 in abundance, top-growth and production of fruit 

 failing accordingly. 



There would be fewer cases of root-knot or 

 eel-worms if no hot-bed material and less soil 

 were used. It is surprising how small a quantity 

 of soil the most successful growers for the Lon- 

 don markets provide for their plants, and also 

 what an extraordinary crop they rarely fail to 

 obtain from them in the course of a month or 

 six weeks cropping. It is not a question of so 

 many bushels of soil to each plant, but rather 

 of pecks. About a peck should be given to each 

 plant at the outset, and another peck in the form 

 of frequent and light top-dressings. That is the 

 secret. No top-dressing with a heavy weight of 

 fresh soil or enough to smother the old soil and 

 roots at one time, but only sufficient to scarcely 

 hide the roots. These latter then never feel 

 the loss of air, and heat and moisture being 

 constantly supplied to them, they take active 

 possession of the new soil in a few hours. 



In addition to supplying water as often as the 

 soil approaches dryness, some manurial assist- 

 ance must also be given. Once let strong sun- 

 shine reach plants dry at the roots, and burning, 

 red spider, and other evils will result, while it 

 is scarcely reasonable to expect plants with a 

 heavy strain on them to derive all the assist- 

 ance they require from a small mound of soil. 

 At the same time no manures that would clog 

 the soil and exclude the air from the roots 

 should be used. An occasional light surfacing, 

 with some approved fertilizer, should be given, 



