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GREENHOUSE CUCUMBERS 



the flats long after the natural leaf appears, else the shift- 

 ing will be too much of a shock. We started in nine years 

 ago with the intention of sowing cucumber seed and then 

 transplanting. People had said: ''You are fools. Don't you 

 know you cannot transplant a cucumber?" But we trans- 

 planted them and they grew. When ready to transplant, the 

 flat should be well watered and the plants can be lifted out 

 with a putty knife or other like tool. By this method each 

 plant is spaced in the flat and can be lifted out with soil on 

 the roots without disturbing its neighbor. For this first 

 shift we use the clay pots exclusively. We gave paper pots 

 a straight, honest trial. For two or three years we used 

 them exclusively, and could not understand why the cucum- 

 bers did not grow right. When they would get to a certain 

 stage, they would become stunted. We tried punching holes 

 in the bottom to let the moisture out. We tried keeping them 

 dry, we tried keeping them wet — everything, but we could not 

 make the plants grow. Then we tried growing them in clay 

 pots alongside the paper pots, and we could tell to a row 

 where they were grown in clay and where in paper pots. 

 Paper pots may be all right for some vegetable plants, but if 

 any grower is having trouble with cucumbers in paper pots, 

 a change should be made to the clay pots. The three and 

 one-half inch size is large enough to give a good sized plant, 

 although four inch are used by some growers. Whether clay 

 or paper pots are used, they should be plunged in the soil 

 to hold the moisture. This potting soil should be a rich 

 loam that has been sterilized. 



Soil. 



The cucumber will thrive in any good soil, but prefers the 

 lighter ones. If the natural soil is of the clay or muck type, 

 one should lighten the soil by using bank sand or some other 

 gritty material that will cut it. The preparation of the soil 

 should be looked to very carefully, as it is here that the suc- 

 cess or failure of the crop is largely determined. The prep- 

 aration of the soil should be started the summer before the 

 spring crop. I have had no experience with the fall crop. In 

 preparing the soil for the fall and winter crop of lettuce, a 

 very heavy application of manure is given and the ground is 



