THE FORCING OF ENGLISH CUCUMBERS. 



RESULTS OF TRIALS AT CORNELL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



THE ENGLISH forcing varieties represent 

 the most improved type of the cucumber, 

 and many of them are so distinct in ap- 

 pearance from our common kinds that 

 visitors often fail to recognize them as cucumbers. 

 They deserve to become better known in this coun- 

 try. The market demand is yet small but steadily 

 increasing for these, as for all the better winter prod- 

 ucts of forcing-houses. The smaller and cheaper 

 varieties are better adapted to the general market, 

 but the careful grower who has access to the larger 

 n.arkets, by rail or otherwise, should be able to 



the top by windows hinged up on their lower side. The 

 framework is very light, and the glass is 14 x 24 inches. 

 All this arrangement affords a light and warm house 

 with brisk bottom heat. We prefer night temperature 

 of 60° to 65°, and during the day of 70° to 75°, although 

 the temperature will sometimes run up to 85° and 90°, 

 or even more, in full sun and with ventilators open. 

 Cucumbers are vigorous feeders, and water must be sup- 

 plied abundantly to prevent flagging. In bright weather 

 the air should be kept moist by wetting the walks, both 

 to assist growth and to check the ravages of red spider. 



In preparing the beds, we place about an inch of 

 clinkers or potsherds on the boards ; then follow three 

 or four inches of partially-decayed rich sods, preferably 

 from an old pasture, and the bed is then filled with good 

 rich garden soil, to which has been added one-fourth 

 part of well-rotted manure. If the soil is somewhat 

 sticky when a damp portion of it is pressed in the hand, 

 enough sand is added to make it loose and porous. 

 During the winter liquid manure is applied as 

 occasion seems to demand. It is imper- 

 ative that the soil be very rich. 

 Productiveness in the cucum- 

 ber is almost entirely a 

 question of its food. 



Cross-Section of Cucumber House. {Scale, one-fourth inch to the foot.) 



control a select and very profitable trade in the 

 English sorts, particularly when grown in connec- 

 tion with tomatoes, beans and other winter crops. 

 Good fruits sell at from twenty- five to seventy-five 

 cents apiece, and on special occasions even higher. 



General Requirements. — The general requirements 

 of houses, temperature and moisture are essentially the 

 same as for the forcing of tomatoes and beans. The 

 house is built upon a side hill, and is therefore of uneven 

 span. It extends east and west. The inside width is 

 twenty feet, and the ridge stands nine feet above the 

 floor of the upper walk. The beds are eight inches deep. 

 The house is heated by steam, which is carried in one 

 2-inch riser overhead and seven i}^-inch returns under 

 the benches. The ventilation is effected entirely from 



The plants are started in flats, upon small squares of 

 inverted sods, or in pots. I prefer the pots. We use 

 3-inch rose-pots, filling them only a third full of earth. 

 When the plant has formed a pair of true leaves and 

 stands well above the brim, the pot is filled with earth. 

 This affords additional root space, and renders trans- 

 planting unnecessary. When the pots are well filled 

 with roots, the plants are transferred directly to the 

 beds. The young plants are very liable to the attacks 

 of aphis and fungi, and any failure in the bottom heat 

 will seriously affect them. The aphis must be kept off, 

 or the plant will be ruined even in a few days. A 

 stunted cucumber plant will make a short, bunchy 

 growth at the top, and the leaves will be small and yel- 

 lowish ; it may remain almost stationary for some weeks. 

 Even if it finally resumes vigorous growth, it rarely 



