92 



GREENHOUSE CUCUMBERS 



of a robber, and a stunted cucumber will be the result. If 

 more room is given, it will shorten the lettuce crop. At 

 least five lettuce plants should give place to a cucumber. If 

 one does not wish to lay so much stress on the cucumbers, he 

 can crowd the lettuce a little closer, but I believe a good 

 average is about fifty inches. 



Spacing and Training. 



Different growers use various ways to support the vines — 

 sticks, wires, strings, and so forth. Twine, such as is used 

 for tjang grapes and which comes in rope form, m_ay be used. 

 I do not know how many strands there are in this rope. 

 There are fifty or sixty or quite a large number. With a 

 heavy knife or hatchet, one can cut off the fifty or sixty at 

 one operation. This twine may be loosely twisted about the 

 stem of the plant, and the little prickles will catch in the 

 threads of the string and save the trouble of tying. As fast 

 as the plant grows out, it can be drawn back and twisted 

 about the string two or three times. When the crop is har- 

 vested, the plant with the string can be cut down, and the 

 trouble of untangling is avoided. 



There are three forms of trellises used extensively, the 

 perpendicular, the ''A," and the arbor. The perpendicular 

 gives more light surface than the others. To explain: In a 

 thirty-foot house the arbor system gives thirty feet of light 

 surface. If the ''A" system is used with four rows across 

 the house eight feet high, there will be thirty-two feet of 

 light surface; and with four rows across the house perpen- 

 dicular, the light can strike both sides and there will be, it 

 the rows are six and one-half feet high, fi.fty feet of cross- 

 section exposed to light. Some growers plant fifteen inches 

 apart in the roAv, with the rows seven feet apart. Would it 

 not be better to make the rows three and one-half feet apart 

 and the plants two feet apart in the row? 



Trimming should start as soon as the laterals appear. It 

 is always best to pinch the end of the lateral where it is to 

 be checked rather than to let it grow far beyond the point 

 where it is to be stopped and then have to use a knife. The 

 vine should be kept free from laterals a foot or so from the 



