CULTURE OF THE CUCUMBER IN A DUNG-BED. 



501 



new linings should never be allowed to mix with the old ones until they 

 have become quite sweet ; for you must, on no account, allow rancid heat to 

 be confined at the bottom of your linings. Attention to these directions 

 must be continued until J une, if it is desired to keep the plants in a healthy 

 state ; and although after the month of March the turnings need not be 

 quite so frequent, a good warmth must be kept up, or the plants will not 

 swell off their fruit kindly. Indeed, at an advanced period of the season, 

 the roots will have got down into the dung, and so soon as that ceases 

 to heat, they will perish from excess of moisture." — {Mills's Treatise, 

 p. 36.) 



1062. Water. — " Watering frequently, and in small quantities, as before 

 observed, is the proper way to keep the plants in a sound state ; but in the 

 winter months, from the moisture of the fermenting material, and of the outer 

 air, and the absence of solar heat, they will require but little from the water- 

 pot. The surface of the bed, near the frame, will occasionally become dry 

 from the heat of the linings passing upwards through it ; and when that occurs, 

 let it be sprinkled with water through a fine-rosed pot, just before covering up ; 

 and on fine mornings, about ten o'clock, give to the soil in which the plants 

 are growing a little water in a tepid state. In November, December, and 

 January, little water will be wanted, but in February, March, and April, 

 more may be given ; always, however, in the morning, and only when 

 there is a prospect of the plants becoming dry by covering-up time. It 

 is a bad practice to water late in the afternoon, even in April, May, and 

 June. In dull weather never water the plants, but the mould only." — 

 {Ibid, p. 37.) 



1063. Stopping. — " Keeping the cucumber plants regularly stopped is of 

 the utmost importance ; and it should always be done with the finger and 

 thumb, because, when a knife is used, the wound does not heal, and the 

 lateral generally dies back to the next joint. The shoots should never be 

 suffered to get into a crowded state, otherwise they will become weak and 

 unfruitful ; and their fruit, such as they will bear, will be of a small and 

 inferior kind. Four good breaks or runners, stopped alternately, will be 

 ample ; and two fruit are as many as a strong plant ought to swell at one 

 time." — {Ibid. p. 38.) In order to keep the fruit from curving as it proceeds 

 in growth, oblong cases lined with glass are employed ; or glasses made on 

 purpose might be advantageously used. 



1064. Moulding up, is another point which demands special attention, and 

 which must be done, if the grower means to excel in his undertaking. As 

 the roots show themselves through the hillocks of earth, let them be covered 

 with an inch or two of the soil recommended, placing more between the 

 hillocks than elsewhere. This is done in order that the hillocks may meet 

 and form a ridge along the middle of the bed by the end of December ; but 

 care should be taken to keep the sides clear of mould, to admit of the heat 

 of the linings rising through them, to give that lively heat within the frame, 

 which is usually called top-heat, and which is necessary for the plants, as it 

 causes them to dry in the day, during the most unfavourable weather, and 

 yet gives them steam moisture by night. The whole of the bed should not 

 be covered with earth until the end of March ; more particularly the front 

 of it, for a breadth of at least 3 inches or 4 inches, because this being the 

 lowest part of the bed the heat ascends to the highest part. {Ibid. p. 39.) 



JOGo. " The covering at night is the next point to be dealt with. As soon 



