THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



more sunshine, otherwise the root action will 

 he sluggish. 



The night temperature must range from 65° 

 to 70°, with an increase of from 5° to 10° in the 

 daytime whenever this can be given without 

 making the pipes unduly hot. In such a brisk 

 heat it will be necessary to damp the walls and 

 surroundings of the pots two or three times 

 a day, resorting to overhead syringings only 

 on bright mornings. Little or no air need be 

 given throughout the winter. Keep the soil 

 uniformly moist, apply liquid manure often, and 

 give a light top-dressing every ten days. Brown 

 fibrous loam in lumps, gradually piled up on 

 and about the pots, is just what the plants most 

 appreciate, a net-work of root-fibres soon taking 

 possession of it. 



Saving Seeds. — Some varieties are shy in pro- 

 ducing seeds, Tender and True being a note- 

 worthy example of this. The most successful 

 growers of seeds for the trade start their plants 

 in May or June, and when the trellis or bed is 

 well covered with haulm, the embryo fruits are 

 thinned out, all the best in form being saved. 

 These are carefully fertilized, and three days 

 later once more gone over with a view to re- 

 moving all that are not of good form. Even 

 after this is done a heavy crop is left, and 

 these on house-grown plants are all secured to 

 the trellisses and allowed to attain their full 

 size. Not till they are fully ripe, or on the 

 point of decaying, are they cut, when they are 

 sliced open and the pulp separated from the 

 seeds in water. The good sound seeds will 

 sink to the bottom, and after the water is 

 drained away they may be partially dried, 

 polished in a cloth, and then harvested on an 

 inverted fine sieve in the full sunshine. Private 

 growers may fertilize a few female flowers on 

 their plants, and allow these to hang, and other- 

 wise treat as advised in the case of trade- 

 growers. Unless effectively fertilized, there 

 is little likelihood of fruit of superior varieties 

 giving perfect seeds. 



Ridge Cucumbers. — Cucumbers may be pro- 

 duced abundantly on ridges in the open air in 

 warm summers, protected in the first instance 

 by hand-glasses. The plants should be raised 

 in heat in April and planted out under hand- 

 glasses on ridges formed over hot dung. In 

 making the ridges a trench should be thrown 

 out 3 feet wide and 1 foot deep, laying the soil 

 on the north side. The trench must then be 

 filled with hot dung, and if this can be raised 

 to the thickness of 2J feet, so much the better. 

 The dung should be covered with about 9 inches 



of the soil dug out of the trench, or with other 

 rich soil, the surface being made to slope to- 

 wards the south, and backed up with the soil 

 thrown out of the trench. The hand-glasses 

 must be kept on as long as the growth of the 

 plants will permit, and on cold nights mats or 

 other covering should be thrown over them. 

 The application of any means that may be 

 contrived to afford shelter on cold nights will 

 of course prove advantageous, and so will be a 

 mulching of litter; but fresh stable litter is 

 injurious to the foliage. 



In the Home Counties, also near Bristol and 

 other large towns, ridge Cucumbers are exten- 

 sively grown in the open fields, the net profits 

 ranging from £20 to £80. per acre, according 

 to the season. In these instances the site pre- 

 ferred is ground sloping gently to the south, 

 and the ridges run from north to south. One 

 foot or less of hot decaying stable -manure is 

 covered by about 6 inches of the best of the 

 soil thrown out of the trenches. This is done 

 early in May — that is, if there is no convenience 

 for raising the requisite large number of plants 

 under glass — and the seed is sown directly the 

 soil has become warm. Sow three or four seeds 

 at distances of 2 feet apart, where the selected 

 resulting plants are to grow. Protect the 

 seedlings, and also any plants that may be 

 turned out of pots late in May, with bell- 

 glasses (cloches), hand-lights, baskets, or other 

 make-shift coverings on cold nights, or till all 

 danger from spring frost is past, after which 

 thin out the plants where necessary, leaving 

 two at each site. Strong winds from any 

 quarter are most injurious to Cucumber plants, 

 and these to a certain extent can be broken by 

 means of a thick row of Rye -grass disposed 

 between or on each side of the ridges. The 

 Rye seed ought to be sown in the autumn. 



It is possible to injure the stems of ridge 

 Cucumbers by a too frequent and free appli- 

 cation of water, this leading to an early and 

 complete loss of plant. Enough water should 

 be applied to give the plants a good start, after 

 which they seldom require further assistance 

 in this way. If watering is persevered with, 

 risk of injury to the stems may be obviated 

 by keeping the water away from these to a dis- 

 tance, say, of 3 inches all round. Putting out 

 Cucumber plants in a basin of soil simplifies 

 watering operations, but it is unwise and risky 

 all the same. 



When the leading growth of each plant has 

 attained a length of about 30 inches they 

 should be topped, and beyond keeping the 



