GREENHOUSE CUCUMBERS 



95 



when it gets older and thus transmit this characteristic to 

 its progeny. We want a vine that will stand up through the 

 Whole season. On the other hand, it is not well to wait un- 

 til the vine has become so old that it cannot give vitality to 

 the seed. 



One can hasten the process of breeding by covering the 

 selected vine with mosquito netting and doing pollenizing by 

 hand. If left open, the bees will pgllenize, and they may 

 cross from a strong vine to a weak vine. 



Enemies. 



There are many diseases of the cucumber plant, among 

 which the bacterial wilt is the worst. The other diseases do 

 not play so prominent a part in greenhouse operations. The 

 first evidences of the wilt are a wilted leaf or part of leaf. 

 Again, one may note the wilting of the entire plant. The 

 peculiar actions of the disease are due to the fact that the 

 bacterial germs find their way into the passages of the plant 

 and stop the flow of the juices. Cucumbers may wilt from 

 other causes, and in order to determine the nature of the 

 trouble, several short sections of the diseased stem may be 

 placed under an inverted tumbler over night. The sap will 

 exude from the cut sections, and if it is very stringy, the 

 trouble is the bacterial wilt. Authorities are quite well 

 agreed that the disease is spread by means of the striped cu- 

 cumber beetle. It seems that the beetle has a pretty good 

 appetite for the wilted leaf. As soon as a leaf wilts, they 

 will begin to feed on it. Then some will go to a healthy vine 

 and inoculate it by feeding on it. Hence, the only remedy 

 is to destroy the diseased parts promptly and to fight the 

 beetles. They can to a certain extent be kept out of a house 

 by keeping the end doors and the side ventilators shut. Some 

 growers claim that spraying v/ith bordeaux will prevent the 

 beetles from attacking the plants, and one can even go to 

 the extent of going over the vines early in the morning when 

 the beetles are not very active and catching them by hand. 



Mr. Work: Do you grow cucumbers outdoors? 



Mr. Wrigley: Not at all. 



