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XI. On Forcing Cucumbers. In a Letter to the Secre- 

 tary. By Mr. Thomas Allen. 



g IR Read January 4, 1825. 



I beg leave to offer to your notice the following method of 

 growing forced Cucumbers, which I have practised upwards 

 of twenty years w ith success, always producing abundance of 

 the fruit under frames from March till October. In the last 

 year (1823) I worked seventy lights for the London market, 

 the produce of the whole was 3360, or four dozen Cucumbers 

 to a light, which is, I believe, a greater product than is 

 usually obtained by any of the ordinary methods of treatment. 



The most obvious defects in the common management of 

 Cucumbers under lights are, firstly, that the earth or compost 

 is of too light a quality, not containing sufficient strength and 

 depth to support a succession of fruit through the season, 

 particularly if there should be much sun ; and secondly, the 

 dung is not always sufficiently worked in the bed before it is 

 earthed over, and it is generally left burning in a confined 

 state, so that when the roots of the plants come in contact 

 with it, instead of finding it congenial to vegetation, it destroys 

 the roots, and consequently injures the health of the plants, 

 subjecting them to the attack of the red spider and other 

 insects. 



Having stated these defects, I will now describe the 

 method I have practised, and commence with the dung-bed. 

 If it is to be made in December or January, four feet in 



