664 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



dung-bed in general use. Many propagate the 

 cucumber by cuttings, and although the melon 

 is capable of being so increased, it is more rarely 

 practised. Cuttings of cucumbers are taken off 

 from the tops of vigorous-bearing shoots ; if for 

 winter bearing, this operation commences about 

 the middle or end of September, planting the 

 cuttings, which should be from 5 to 6 inches in 

 length, and always cut over close below a joint, 

 in pots filled with rich mould, and plunged into 

 a genial bottom-heat. If shaded and occasionally 

 watered, they will strike root in a week, and be 

 fit for planting out where they are to produce 

 their fruit in six or eight days longer, and begin 

 to produce fruit by the beginning or middle of 

 December. The advantage of cuttings over 

 plants reared from seed for winter work is, that 

 they are much less succulent, and less liable to 

 damp off during cloudy and damp weather. By 

 this means also a favourite variety may be con- 

 tinued for years, whereas by seed they are liable 

 to degenerate; and if more than one sort is 

 grown in the same house or pit, it is scarcely 

 possible to continue a variety pure, on account 

 of their liability to sport by the one impregnat- 

 ing the other. Some object to plants originated 

 by cuttings, and assert that they do not con- 

 tinue so long in a bearing state as those derived 

 from seed; but if such plants be cut back when 

 they begin to decline, and allowed to make a 

 fresh supply of young wood, they may be con- 

 tinued in a bearing state for many successive 

 months. When cucumbers are desired during 

 December and January, sow the seed or put in 

 cuttings during September; if in February and 

 March, sow the seed or plant the cuttings in 

 October; for spring and summer bearing, origi- 

 nate the plants in January. 



Cultivation. — To secure a crop of cucumbers 

 during winter, plants should be originated by 

 the middle or end of August, continuing their 

 propagation up to the middle of September, 

 either by sowing seeds of approved sorts, for 

 there are some that succeed better through the 

 winter than others, or by cuttings taken off such 

 sorts as may be still in a state of bearing, the 

 tops of the shoots being chosen for the purpose. 

 Plants from cuttings are less liable to grow so 

 much to branches and leaves, and are also 

 firmer in texture, and better able to endure the 

 dark and damp of winter. In either case, the 

 main object is to have the plants well rooted 

 and short in the stem, and that of considerable 

 thickness, or what are practically known as 

 stout stocky plants. During their young state 

 they should be kept near to the glass, which 

 will prevent their being drawn up tall and 

 slender. Under the head Melon we have en- 

 deavoured to point out the great advantage of 

 cucumber-houses or capacious pits where the 

 plants may be trained to a trellis about 15 

 inches under the glass roof, the fruit being 

 allowed to grow in a suspended manner. A 

 reference to vol. i., sect. Melon and Cucumber 

 Houses, will show several structures adapted 

 for this purpose. We carry on this operation 

 in a tanked pit, the tank being of brick and 

 cement, and 3 feet wide, divided in the centre 

 by a row of bricks, set in cement, on edge, 



which forms a flow and return trough, the 

 water being from 3 to 4 inches deep. This 

 affords bottom heat, and atmosphere or top 

 heat is obtained from a flow and return 4-inch 

 iron pipe, communicating with the same boiler, 

 with a valve so constructed that either top or 

 bottom heat may be applied at pleasure, the top 

 one of which is exactly level with the top of the 

 water in the tank, which prevents the latter 

 from overflowing. These pipes are placed 

 between the tank and front parapet wall. The 

 tank is covered with 2-inch Caithness pavement, 

 closely jointed to prevent earthy matter getting 

 into the water; and on top of this pavement are 

 set wooden boxes, each 20 inches square and 

 10 inches deep, having no bottoms, as these 

 would prevent the free ascent of the heat of the 

 tank to the soil in which the plants grow. Over 

 the pavement and within each box is placed about 

 14 inches of broken crocks as drainage, and over 

 that 3 inches of decayed cow-dung, and upon 

 that the soil, which is light rich loam, vegetable 

 mould, with a little sharp sand. When the soil 

 is first placed in the boxes, it is gathered up in 

 form of a mound, and on the top of this the 

 plants are set, one generally in each box. As 

 the roots extend through the sides of the hill or 

 mound, they are covered to the depth of an 

 inch or so with similar soil, kept within the pit to 

 be of a proper temperature ; as the roots extend, 

 more and more soil is added until the box is 

 full. The plants are not topped till they reach 

 the trellis, at which time they are stopped to 

 cause them to throw out lateral shoots. The 

 boxes are placed about 18 inches apart, which 

 admits of the heat in the tank rising into the 

 pit, which is found of advantage in very cold 

 weather. If more heat is desired at the roots, 

 l^-inch boards of the size of the spaces between 

 the boxes can be placed over those parts of the 

 tank, which prevents the ascent of heat at those 

 parts, and consequently increases the heat in 

 the tank, and also in the soil in which the plants 

 are growing. We have, however, seldom to 

 have recourse to this expedient, as we have 

 abundance of bottom heat without. Before 

 putting the soil in the boxes, we place in each a 

 2-inch drain-pipe, the bottom end of which rests 

 on the crocks under the soil, and through this 

 pipe the greater part of the water used during 

 winter is poured, which waters the roots with- 

 out wetting the soil on the surface, this being 

 usually kept sufficiently damp by the condensa- 

 tion that falls from the glass roof, and directs 

 the water to the points of the roots, the part 

 where they naturally absorb it. 



We prefer such boxes to covering the whole 

 surface of the tank for winter forcing, as each 

 of them is quite sufficient to maintain a plant as 

 long as it continues in a fruit-bearing state, after 

 which time it is thrown out, the box again re- 

 filled and planted; and this process goes on 

 throughout the season, keeping up a supply of 

 plants by sowing seed, or striking them from 

 cuttings. These, however, planted out in Octo- 

 ber, continue till January, after which period 

 young plants are readily produced to keep up a 

 regular supply. Tepid water is alone used, both 

 for watering at the roots and syringing over the 



