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XXXI. Account of a Method of growing Cucumbers, on 

 Heat, as practised in the Garden of Mrs. Dare, at Cran- 

 brooke House, near Ilford, in Essex. By Mr. George 

 Mills, Gardener to Mrs. Dare. 



Read May 5th, 1818. 



The Cucumbers shown to the Society on the 17th of 

 March were cultivated on a dung-bed, under a common 

 frame, according to the method here described. Well prepar- 

 ing the dung is of the greatest importance in forcing the 

 Cucumber, and if not done before it is made into a bed, it 

 cannot be done after, as it requires turning and watering to 

 cause it to ferment freely and sweetly : fresh dung from the 

 stable will require at least six weeks preparation before it will 

 be fit to receive the plants. A month before it is made into a 

 bed, it should be laid into an heap, turned three times, and 

 well shaken to pieces with a fork, and the outsides of the heap 

 turned into the middle, and the middle to the outsides, that 

 the whole may have a regular fermentation ; and if any appear 

 dry, it should be made wet, keeping it always between the 

 two extremes of wet and dry. A dry spot of ground should 

 be chosen to prepare the dung on, that the water may drain 

 away from the bottom of the heap. The dung having been 

 a month in heap, I make the bed as follows : I form a stra- 

 tum one foot high, of wood of any kind, but if large, the 

 better ( old roots of trees, or any other of little value will do ; ) 

 this is to drain the water from the bottom of the bed ; for, 



