98 



GREENHOUSE CUCUMBERS 



Mr. Zuck: Yes, sir. If one's house is built strong 

 enough, with a supporting system above one can run wires 

 lengthwise of the house to support each row. Then these 

 strings can be tied to the parallel wires overhead. Other- 

 wise a person will have to use some sort of horses or wood 

 bucks to support these. 



Mr. Work: Some of the Rochester growers, where they 

 have no trusses, put up light bars about one-eighth inch 

 thick, one-half inch wide, crosswise of the house, string their 

 wires through those, and leave them there all the time. In 

 our greenhouse we have been rather crude in supporting our 

 wires. We use that general system, but simply put up posts 

 of one by three, then run our wires lengthwise on top of these. 

 We anchor the supports tightly at the end. The permanent 

 system, I think, is pretty nearly as cheap as far as first cost is 

 concerned, and it is there to stay. 



Question: What is an average yield? 



Mr. Zuck: With vines two by three, in a short season 

 from June first to August first, an average of a basket of 

 thirty cucumbers per vine, may be considered very fair. 



Mr. Work: I have as a fair average from Rochester 

 about thirty-seven dozen per hundred square feet. From 

 Boston I have learned that they run from twenty-five to sixty 

 dozen per hundred square feet. There seems to be a reason- 

 able amount of agreement. My figure for you, Mr. Zuck, is 

 thirty-six dozen. 



Mr. Work: Do you shade your cucumbers? 



Mr. Zuck: We do not. 



Mr. Work: Is it not necessary? 



Mr. Zuck : We have never experimented any in that line, 

 but some days, if the sun is up pretty high and it is extreme- 

 ly hot, we wet the vines with the Skinner overhead irrigation 

 system, and this helps to cool the temperature, but it seems 

 to me that shading the plants would be a distinct detriment 

 to the welfare of the vines. 



Question: What method of pollenizing do you use? 



Mr. Zuck : With bees entirely. 



