CUCUMBER 



27,3 



earlier, according to the season, the 

 crop is ready for a first gathering, 

 and from that time to the end of 

 September fruit varying in length 

 from 10 to 12 in., green and solid, 

 though sometimes unshapely, is 

 continually being cut. 



Gherkins. — These are extensively 

 cultivated in London market-gardens, 

 some growers frequently gathering 

 from 18,000 to 20,000 fruit in one 

 day. The seed is sown in May in 

 rows, where the plants are to remain, 

 in well-manured land. The rows 

 are usually about 9 ft. apart, and the 

 plants, which are thinned out when 

 sufficiently advanced to admit of the 

 strongest being discerned and left, 

 allowed to stand 6 ft. apart in the 

 rows. The after-treatment is exactly 

 the same as that practised in the case 

 of outdoor Cucumbers, except that 

 the shoots of the Gherkins are allowed 

 to grow unpinched. The fruit is 

 gathered when about the size of a 

 man's finger, placed in bushel baskets, 

 and sent direct to the pickle manu- 

 facturers. A good place for Gherkins, 



and one often devoted to them, is the 

 alleys between the rows of spring- 

 sown Cabbages or Radish beds. The 

 alleys are dug over, the drills for the 

 seeds opened in the morning, and the 

 seeds are sown in the afternoon when 

 the ground is warm. When the 

 Radishes or other crops are cleared 

 off the intervening beds, the latter 

 are dug, and a line of Cauliflowers or 

 French Beans is planted along the 

 centre of them, or sometimes two 01 

 three lines of Lettuces are put in. 

 Some sow the Gherkins on an open 

 quarter in patches of three or four 

 seeds together, in rows about 5 or 

 6 ft apart, and 3 or 4 ft. asunder in 

 the row. Hand-glasses are then 

 placed over the seeds, and when the 

 young plants have come above 

 ground, abundant ventilation is 

 given until they show flower, when 

 they are fully exposed. In most 

 cases, however, they are raised in 

 frames and transferred to the open 

 ground in June, and in this way 

 they fruit earlier and usually give 

 less trouble and better results. 



Uses. — Cucumbers are eaten raw, boiled, or pickled. They are 

 very good as a vegetable in the hands of a good cook, but are not 

 often enough treated in this 

 way in England. 



The varieties of Cucumbers 

 are extremely numerous, and 

 the designed or accidental 

 crossings of different varieties 

 are still producing new ones. 

 We shall confine ourselves to 

 the description of the kinds 

 which are most distinct and 

 most valuable for cultivation. 



Early Russian Gherkin. — - 

 A truly miniature Cucumber, = 

 with a slender stem 20 in. to 

 2 ft. long, and small, bright 

 green leaves. It is perfectly 

 well adapted for frame culture, 

 each plant producing from six 



Early Russian Gherkin natural size; 

 detached fruit, i natural size). 



to eight fruit, which are short. 



