204 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



eight or ten seeds in the hill, and when they get rough 

 leaves pull np the poorest plants, and leave but three in a 

 hill. Old seed is much better than new, as the plants will 

 run less to vines and bear better. 



As soon as the vine gets rough leaves, nip off the 

 extremities to make them branch out and they will fruit the 

 sooner. This is called stopping. Cucumbers are very 

 subject in cool, dry seasons to attacks of insects, especially 

 the striped bug and the cucumber flea. Dry wood ashes 

 or air-slacked lime dusted thoroughly upon the plants 

 when the dew is on, will generally repel them, and bring 

 the plants forward. But warm rains ,yill soon bring up the 

 plants beyond the reach of the depredators. Cucumbers 

 should not be planted very late in this climate, as those 

 that form after the middle of August are pretty apt to be 

 destroyed by the melon worm. The best pickles are 

 from the early planted vines. 



Cucumbers can be very much forwarded by planting 

 them in boxes covered over with glass. Two seven-by-nine 

 panes are large enough to cover a hill, and such hills will 

 not be troubled by the bugs, and the seed can be put in 

 four or five weeks earlier than otherwise. The seed can 

 also be planted in large pots under a frame, or in a green- 

 house, to be turned out, when the weather gets favorable, 

 into the open air, and they will scarcely show they have 

 been moved. Or they can be raised wholly without re- 

 moval, in hot-beds made as directed in a former article. 

 They do best to start them in pots placed in a small hot- 

 bed, and to be -transplanted when the leaves are two or 

 three inches broad and they fill the pots, into new beds 

 of a larger size. They must have plenty of air, and be 

 placed near the glass, or they will be drawn up. If they 

 begin to grow long-legged, give them more air. The tem- 

 perature of the seed-bed should range between 65° and 



