CUCUMBER 
CUCUMBER. 
Concombre. Cucumis sativus , etc . 
VARIETIES . 
Early Frame. 
Early Green Cluster. 
Early Green Table. 
Long Prickly. 
Short Prickly. 
Long Green. 
Extra Long Green. 
Long White Turkey. 
White Spined. 
West India, or Gherkin 
The Cucumis sativus , or common Cucumber, is a native of 
the East Indies, and of nearly as great antiquity as the vine 
It was introduced into England in 1573, and is extensively 
cultivated in forcing frames, and in the open air. In March, 
they are sold in the London Markets for a guinea a dozen ; 
and in August and September for one penny per dozen. 
As Cucumbers are much used in New- York, it should be 
an object with gardeners to have them in the market early ; 
directions for raising them out of the ordinary season, are 
therefore given in a future page, under the head Forcing 
Vegetables; to which the reader is referred. Cucumbers 
may be raised in the open ground by planting seed the first 
week of May, in hills four feet apart ; or if the ground be 
light, basins formed an inch below the level of the surface 
would be beneficial.* Previous to planting, the ground should 
he prepared by incorporating a shovelful of rotten dung with 
the earth in each hill, after which four or five seed may be 
planted half an inch deep. One ounce of good seed is suf- 
ficient for two hundred hills and upward. 
C ucumbers are liable to be attacked by a yellow fly, which 
sometimes devours young plants; these and other insects 
may be killed by sowing tobacco dust, soot, powdered char- 
* The term hill is frequently made use of by gardeners and farmers, to 
designate a situation allotted for a given number of seed, whereas, such 
seed are more frequently deposited below the level of the surface than 
above it ; yet, as the plants progress in growth, hills are frequently formed 
around them, which makes the term applicable, or rather reconciles the 
apparent contradiction- 
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