46 
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going kind. It is deep green in color, 
but turns yellow very quickly; there- 
fore gardeners do not plant it much. 
Long Green Furkey. <A long va- 
riety attaining a length of from fifteen 
to eighteen inches when well grown. 
Very fine and productive. 
Early Cluster. Early, short and 
prickly; it bears in clusters. 
Long Green White Spine or 
New Orieaus Market. This isa va- 
riety selected from an imported forcing 
cucumber introduced by me. Itis good 
for forcing or open ground; very pro- 
RICHARD FROTSCHER’S ALMANAC AND GARDEN MANUAL 
ductive, keeps its green color, and has 
few vines. This kind can not be ex- 
celled for shipping, as it produces very 
perfect cucumbers and but few culls; 
the largest growers of cucumbers for 
shipping about here plant none but this 
variety. It is quite different from the 
Long White Spine offered by some. 
West India Gherkin. This isan 
oval variety, small in size. It is used 
for pickling when young and tender. 
When grown to its full size it can be 
stewed with meat. In fact, this is the 
only use made of it about New Orleans. 
The following may be of some importance to those who 
contemplate the raising of Cucumbers. 
The Cucumber is a very important crop for the Southern Gardener and 
Trueck-farmer. 
To give some information on the cultivation I publish the following 
letter which is written by one of the most extensive and successful growers of this 
vegetable in this neighborhood; he plants exclusively the Long Green White Spine 
or New Orleans Market. 
Nive MILE Point, JEFFERSON PARISH, 
Sept. 17th, 1888. 
Mr. RICHARD FROTSCHER, 
New ORLEANS. 
Dear Sir: 
In compliance with your | 
request. ‘“‘te give you a descripticn of 
my practice in growing Cucumbers,”’ I 
send youthis. Old growers will not find 
anything new in it, but to beginners it 
may be of some service. 
There are three methods in general 
use by growers here. They are forcing 
in hot-beds, growing in cold frames, and | 
Of the first I have little | 
the field crop. 
to say here; itrequiresa plentiful supply 
of fresh stable manure, or other heating | 
material. andso obliges one to be located 
where such can be had in abundanee, 
and in my Opinion, to be uniform and 
successful, requires also skilled labor. 
My practice for growing in the cold 
frames isas follows. I makea good hot 
bed, (for doing this you have given clear, | 
and ample instructions, in your Alma- | 
nac and Garden Manual) make the beds 
large enough to hold three five inch 
pots forevery sash you havein your cold 
frames; this will allow for one-third 
dying. The hot bed should be made the 
last week in, December; in a week after, 
place your pots in the bed, fill the pots 
with a rich light soil, in this sow your 
seed, seven or eight in each pot, cover 
a little less than half an inch deep, let 
the ground on top of the pots get dry 
before watering, then water freely, close 
up the sash and keep it closed until the 
seed begins to come up, which it will do 
in less thanthree days. From this time 
on, the hot bed must be carefully 
watched, plenty of air given on bright 
days, even pulling the sash entirely off 
for a few hours in the middle of warm 
clear days. In cold cloudy weather keep 
them closed, the young plants are, at 
this stage, very liable to damp off. To 
prevent this, give plenty of air when the 
weather is good; if it is wet and cold, 
and the sash cannot be opened, sprinkle 
plenty of air slacked lime in the frame. 
Water only when dry, and then only in 
fair weather. When the plants are well 
up, thin out to three inapot. After the 
second rough leaf is formed, pinch off 
