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middle of the holes, and feeling the lower part of 
it, which will fatisfy you what condition your bed is 
in ; then you mull fur up the earth in the middle of 
the hole with your hand, breaking all clods, and re- 
moving all large ftones, making the earth hollow in 
form of a bafon ; into each of thefe holes you mull 
plant two plants, in doing of which, obferve to make 
the holes for the plants a little flan ting towards the 
middle of the bafon, efpecially if your plants are long 
fhanked ; this is intended to place the roots of the 
plants as far as poifible from the dung, to which if 
they approach too near, the lower part of their roots 
is fubjedt to be burned off; then fettle the earth 
gently to each plant, and, if the earth is dry, it will 
be proper to give them a little water (which fhould 
be warmed to the temper of the bed, as was before 
diredled •,) and if the fun fhould appear in the middle 
of the day, they fhould be {haded therefrom with 
mats until the plants have taken root, which will be 
in two or three days ; after which, you mull let them 
enjoy as much of the fun as poffible, obferving to 
turn the lights in the day time to dry, as alfo to give 
a little air whenever the weather will permit. 
You muft alfo obferve to keep the glades covered 
every night, and in bad weather, but be very careful 
not to keep them covered too clofe, efpecially while 
the bed has a great fleam in it, which will caule a 
damp to fettle upon the plants, which, for want of 
air to keep the fluid in motion, will flagnate and rot 
them. 
"When your plants are grown to be four or five inches 
high, you muft, with Tome {lender-forked flicks, in- 
cline them toward the earth, each one a feparate 
way ; but this muft be done gently at firft, left by 
forcing them too much, you fhould ftrain or break 
the tender veffels of the plants, which would be very 
hurtful to them. In this manner you fhould, from 
time to time, obferve to peg down the runners as 
they are produced, laying each in exadt order, fo 
as not to interfere or crofs each other ; nor fhould you 
ever after remove them from their places, or handle 
them too roughly, whereby the leaves may be broken 
or difplaced, which is alfo equally injurious to them; 
but whenever you have occafion to weed the bed be- 
tween the plants, do it with great care, holding the 
leaves afide with one hand, while with the other you 
pull out the weeds. 
In about a month after they are ridged out, you may 
expedt to fee the beginnings of fruit, which very 
often are preceded by male flowers, which many 
people are fo ignorant as to pull off, calling them 
falfe bloffoms ; but this I am fully convinced, by 
many experiments, is wrong ; for thefe flowers are of 
abfolute fervice to promote the welfare of the fruit, 
which, when thefe male flowers are entirely taken off, 
does very often fall away, and come to nothing : nor 
fhould the Vines be pruned, as is too often the prac- 
tice of unfkilful people, efpecially when they are too 
luxuriant, which often happens when the feeds were 
frefli, or of the laft year’s faving, and the plants in 
good heart. If this fhould happen to be the cafe, it 
would be very proper to pull up one of the plants, 
before they have run fo far as to entangle with the 
other •, for it often happens, that one or two plants 
are better than four or five, when they are vigorous •, 
for when the frame is too much crouded with Vine, 
the fruit is feldom good, nor in fuch plenty, as when 
there is a more moderate quantity of flioots •, for the 
air being hereby excluded from the fruit, they often 
decay, and fall off very young. 
You muft alfo be very careful to cover the glafles 
every night when your fruit begins to appear, as alfo 
to lay a little frefn litter, or mowing of grafs round 
the fides of the bed, to add a frefli heat thereto •, for 
if the heat of the bed be fpent, and the nights prove 
cold, the fruit will fall away and come to nothing ; 
and when the fun is extreme hot in the middle of 
the day, you muft cover the glafles with mats to 
fbade the Vines ; for although they delight in heat, 
yet the diredl rays of the fun, when it has great force. 
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are very injurious, by either fcorching thole leaV&§ 
which are near the glafles, or by caufing too great a 
perfpiration, whereby the extreme part of the flioots 
and the large leaves are left deftitute of nourifhment, 
and the fruit will be at a ftand, and often turn yellow 
before it arrives at half its growth ; this is too often 
the cafe, when the beds have not a fufficient depth of 
earth over the dung. 
At this time, when your Vines are fpread fo as to 
cover the hot-bed, it will be of great fervice when 
you water them, to fprinkle them all over gently fo 
as not to hurt the leaves ; but obferve to do this not 
at a time when the fun is very hot, for hereby I have 
known a whole bed of Cucumbers fpoiled ; for the 
water remaining upon the furface of the leaves in 
drops, doth collect the rays of the fun as it were to 
a focus, and fo fcorches the leaves, that in one day’s ■ 
time they have, from a bright green, become of the 
colour of brown paper. The watering of the beds 
ail over will be of great fervice, by giving nourifli- 
ment to thofe roots, which by this time will have 
extended themfelves all over the bed; and if the 
warmth of the bed fhould now decline, it will be of 
great fervice to add a lining of frefli dung round the 
fides of the beds, to give a new heat to them ; for as 
the nights are often cold at this feafon, where the 
beds have not a kindly warmth left in them, the fruit 
will frequently drop off the Vines, when grown to 
the fize of a little finger ; and if upon this lining of 
dung there is a thicknefs of ftrong earth laid for the 
roots of the plants to run into, it will greatly 
ftrengthen them, and continue the plants in vigour a 
much longer time than they otherwife will do ; for 
the roots of thefe plants extend to a great diftance 
when they have room, which they cannot have in a 
bed not more than five feet wide ; fo that when they 
have no greater extent for their roots, the plants will 
not continue in vigour above five or fix weeks, which, 
if they have a depth and extent of earth, will con- 
tinue three months in bearing ; fo that where there are 
feveral beds made near each other, it will be the belt 
way to fill up the bottom of the alleys between them 
with warm dung, and cover that with a proper thick- 
nefs of earth, fo as to raife them to the level of the beds. 
Thefe diredtions, with diligent obfervation, will be 
fufficient for the management of this crop of Cucum- 
bers ; and Vines thus treated will continue to fupply 
you with fruit till the beginning of July, by which 
time the fecond crop will come to bear ; the fowing 
and managing of which is what I fhall next proceed to. 
About the middle of March, or a little later, ac- 
cording to the earlinefs of the feafon, you muft put 
in your feeds, either under a bell-glafs, or in the 
upper fide of your early hot-bed ; and when the plants 
are come up, they fhould be pricked upon another 
moderate hot-bed, which fhould be covered with bell 
or hand-glaffes, placed as clofe as poffible to each 
other ; the plants fhould alfo be pricked at about two 
inches diftance from each other, obferving to water 
and fhade them until they have taken new root, 
which will be in a very fhort time. This is to be 
underftood of fuch places where a great quantity of 
plants are required, which is conflantly the cafe in 
the kitchen-gardens near London ; but where it is 
only for the fupply of a family, there may be plants 
enough raifed on the upper fide of the beds where 
the firft crop is growing ; or if the Vines fhould have 
extended themfelves fo far as to cover the whole bed, 
whereby there will not be room to prick the plants, 
a fingle light will contain a fufficient number of 
plants, while young, to plant out in ridges, as will 
fupply the largeft family with Cucumbers during the 
latter feafon. You muft alfo cover the glafles with 
mats every night, or in very bad weather ; but in the 
day time, when the weather is hot, you muft raife 
the glafles with a flone on the oppoflte fide from the 
wind, to give air to the plants, which will greatly 
ftrengthen them ; you muft alfo water them as you 
fhall find they require it, but this muft be done 
fparingly while the plants are young. 
4 P ' The 
