494 



CULTURE OF THE CUCUiMBER. 



Section VIII. — Culture of the Cucumber. 

 SuBSECT. I. — Data on which the Culture of the Cucumber is founded. 



1048. The cucumher (Cucumis sativa, L.\ is an annual, climbing by 

 tendrils, or trailing on the surface of the ground, a native of the East 

 Indies, and probably of many parts of Asia and Africa. It has been cul- 

 tivated in the old world from time immemorial for its fruit, which is used 

 in an unripe state, alone, or in salads, and for salting and pickling. The 

 cucumber will bear a tropical heat, for it grows abundantly in many tropical 

 countries. In the lower regions of India, the mean annual temperature 

 may be reckoned as high as 80" ; the thermometer indicating rarely so low 

 as 70" in the hottest period of the season. The cucumber thrives well 

 where the heat of the nights is more oppressively felt by Europeans 

 than that of the days. As a wide difference does not occur in the diui- 

 nal and nocturnal temperatures of tropical countries, where the cucumber 

 grows spontaneously, it is not necessary that a great variation should, in this 

 respect, be imposed upon it when under artificial treatment. In order to be 

 tender when cut for use, it requires to be grown rapidly, and, therefore, re- 

 quires as much heat and moisture as can be safely applied. If the native 

 plants of colder climates are forced night and day in a uniformly high 

 temperature, a drawing, or weakness, soon becomes evident ; but no such 

 signs are exhibited by the rigid leaves of the pine-apple, although grown in 

 a uniform temperature of 80°, provided they have not less than eleven or 

 twelve hours' light out of the twenty-four. The cucumber will grow side 

 by side with the pine -apple ; and also naturally in a much higher latitude ; 

 but in that case its growth is limited to the summer season, u'hen nearly a 

 tropical heat is maintained. If the nights are cold, although the days may 

 be warm, cucumbers growing on ridges in the open air, in this climate, in- 

 variably become diseased and attacked by mildew. A temperature ranging 

 between 70° and 80° of artificial heat is suitable for the growth of the cucum- 

 ber; if sun-heat is likely to raise the temperature much higher, air should 

 be copiously, yet gradually, afforded ; and, presuming that the plants are 

 in good health, and their roots well established, enough of moisture being 

 present, they will bear 90° or more of sun-heat without injury. 



1049. In cultivating the cucumber in first-rate British gardens, the object 

 is to have a supply of fruit throughout the year. This may be effected in 

 dung-beds (841), but more conveniently by some description of pit heated 

 by flues or hot water, or by a house constructed on purpose, with a steep 

 glass roof. The plants may be raised either from seeds or cuttings. The 

 best varieties for early culture are the Syon House, Hort's Early Frame, 

 Weedon's Cucumber ; and for large fruit to be exhibited at horticultural 

 shows, Allen's Victory of Suffolk, the Roman Emperor, and some others 

 which it is unnecessary to enumerate, as new sorts are continually coming 

 into fashion, and old ones losing their reputation. The soil cucumbers 

 prefer is light and rich, but they will grow in poor soil watered with liquid 

 manure. Sandy-peat has been found suitable for dung-beds in the winter 

 season, because water passes rapidly through this soil, without so much being 

 retained by it, especially on the surface, as to cause the plants to damp off. 

 The shoots of the cucumber are commonly allowed to trail on the ground ; 

 but they are much less likely to damp off when trained on trellises within 8 

 inches or 10 inches of the glass, as practised since 1790 in a cucumber house 



