36 ON THE CULTURE OF THE CUCUMBER 



after the month of March the turnings need no ~ 

 be quite so frequent, a good warmth must be 

 kept up, or the plants will not swell off their 

 fruit kindly. Indeed, at an advanced period of 

 the season the roots will have got down into the 

 dung, and so soon as that ceases to heat, they 

 will perish from excess of moisture. 



Watering frequently, and in small quantities, 

 as before observed, is the proper way to keep 

 the plants in a sound state ; but in the winter 

 months, from the moisture of the fermenting 

 material, and the absence of solar heat, they 

 will require but little from the water-pot. The 

 surface of the bed, near the frame, will occa- 

 sionally become dry from the heat of the linings 

 passing upwards through it ; and when that 

 occurs, let it be sprinkled with water through a 

 fine-rosed pot, just before covering up ; and on 

 fine mornings, about ten o'clock, give to the soil 

 in which the plants are growing a little water 

 in a tepid state. In November, December, and 

 January, little water will be wanted, but in 



