502 



CULTURE OP THE CUCUMBER IN A DUNG-BED. 



as the heat of the bed declines to about 65°, and when all danger of over- 

 heating- is passed, use a single mat, and then a little hay, spreading it on the 

 glass about one inch thick ; and commencing about the 20th of November. 

 This covering should be thickened as the cold increases ; and when the wea- 

 ther is very severe, double mats should be used. When the season turns, 

 the days lengthen ; and as the sun's heat, during the day, aids in warming 

 the bed within the frame, discontinue the covering by degrees down to a 

 single mat, as at the commencement. Air must be given, more or less, 

 every night from October to the first or second week in March" — (^Ibid. 

 p. 40) ; because, from the large heating surface in proportion to the small 

 volume of air to be heated, an excess of temperature, when the sashes were 

 closed during a whole night, could hardly fail to be the result. 



1066. " Setting or impregnating the fruit has been practised by me early 

 in the season ; and I believe it to be necessary, notwithstanding all that has 

 been said against it, till about the 1st of March. Some have attributed the 

 irregular swelling of the fruit to this operation ; but this is a mistake, it 

 being want of strength in the plants, or their carrying too many fruit at one 

 time, which occasions the irregularity." — (Ibid. p. 40.) 



1067. To jjrocure seed, Mr. Mills invariably raises plants specially for that 

 purpose ; which, he says, should be grown as strong as possible, and not 

 allowed to mature fruit till the roots extend to the outside of the frame ; 

 after which they will be able to swell off, and bring to perfection two fruit 

 each ; taking care that the handsomest be preserved, and that they be im- 

 pregnated four or five times each, previous to the closing of the blossom. 

 They should not be cut under six or eight weeks, then put into a cool room 

 for a month, when they may be opened, the seed taken out, washed and 

 dried ; those only which sink being retained. — (Ibid. p. 41.) 



1068. Inlaying, or earthing in, the vines of the cucumber, though still 

 practised by some, " is now seldom resorted to by experienced growers, and 

 is worse than useless ; for as soon as the buried portions take root the 

 original roots perish ; and, in the place of one good plant, there will be a 

 dozen weak ones." — {Ibid. p. 41.) 



1069. When extraordinary fine fruit is desired, allow the plant to mature 

 one only ; but a succession should be permitted, so that the after-fruit do 

 not follow too closely on the first. By this plan the growth will be rapid, 

 provided the plants are in health ; and the fruit be much better flavoured 

 than if grown slowly. When long in swelling off, the fruit frequently be- 

 comes hard and bitter, and is therefore worthless. From 75° to 80° are as 

 high as the plant will bear to advantage ; and in that temperature fruit will 

 grow faster than in a higher one : the pruning and stopping being attended 

 to as previously laid down." — (Ibid. p. 42. ) The foregoing directions by 

 Mr. Mills are, we believe, among the best extant for growing the cucumber 

 on dung beds, and we have given them at greater length than we otherwise 

 should have done, because they contain instructions on various points equally 

 applicable to the other modes of cucumber culture treated of in the following 

 Subsections. Mr. Mills's directions respecting preparing the dung, making 

 the beds, and applying and working the linings, show the mode of culture 

 on dung beds to be exceedingly expensive and troublesome; so much so, 

 that we do not wonder at the mode b}^ linings to brick-built pits (843), or 

 by pits or houses heated by hot water or flues (490, 515, &c.), being gene- 

 rally preferred by modern gardeners. 



