July 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
277 
seed or cuttings, if deemed advisable. I have had 
plants with the bark and outer woody layers destroyed 
for an inch or two, no unseemly protuberance, above or 
below, and yet the plant luxuriant and fruitful for many 
months. 
This is only one of many facts 1 might present to 
those who hold what was once next to a universal 
opinion, the calling in question of which stamped you 
at once with heterodoxy, namely, that in vegetable life, 
there was, as in the animal economy, a regular circula¬ 
tion of juices, the sap rising in one set of vessels, and 
returning as regularly by another; nay, in some in¬ 
stances, going beyond this, and contending, that if these 
outer returning vessels were destroyed there could be 
no fertility and no long-continued existence. I do not 
see the cause of this disease so plainly as in the case of 
mildew. My impression is, that plants grown in soils 
with an extra amount of iron in them, or if extra sandy 
and poor, are more liable than plauts grown in loam and 
peat, and lightened with pure sand and decayed leal- 
mould. For guarding against this evil in the culture of 
the Cucumber in winter, I used little besides well aired 
peat, supplying more nutriment, when necessary, with 
weak manure-water. Another predisposing cause, at 
all times, but especially early and late in the season, is 
keeping the soil near the collar of the plant wet and 
damp, and a moist, stagnant atmosphere round the 
stems. A free circulation of air would so far remedy 
this, but the chief means of safety are watering, when 
necessary, the back and front of the feeding ground, but 
leaving a space in the middle, round the stems, un¬ 
touched by the watering pot. In extreme cases, such 
ns early in winter, I have found it advisable to defend 
the stem and the earth round it even from the drib- 
blings from the syringe, by surrounding them with a 
tube, closed with moss, or a tile at the top, though freely 
admitting air. When the canker presents itself, the 
best remedy for arresting its progress is frequent appli¬ 
cations of quick lime and charcoal dust, until the part 
becomes quite cauterized. When taken at the very 
first, fresh bark may sometimes cover the spaces, but 
this is not often to be expected. This, however, is a 
matter of little moment, as the plants generally retain 
their full fertility for only a few months. Not but that 
the plant may easily be coaxed into being a perennial, 
as I have had a plant bearing very fairly for between 
two and three years; but what was the good of keeping 
it, when with little or no more trouble young plants 
would yield rather better results? 
The third disease to which I will allude, is a damping 
and rotting at the joints, and at the base of those leaves 
and shoots which required to be pruned away. No 
plant stands lopping and cutting better than the 
Cucumber. In fact, without constant pinching, top¬ 
ping, and thinning, the most fertile plants would soon 
run wild. Many practitioners, to avoid this rotting and 
I damping scourge', leave a part of the foot-stalks of leaves 
and shoots removed, preferring that these should shrivel 
j up before they remove them. This unsightly mode, 
J however, frequently merely postpones the evil day. 
I The evil generally prevails when the plants are almost 
too luxuriant to be extra fertile, and when this extra 
growth is stimulated by heat and moisture at the roots, 
and a rather high temperature, and a moist atmosphere 
above. In the case of plants thus luxuriant, it is as 
well to lessen the amount of these stimuli to growth, 
by a colder and a drier atmosphere, and as much 
dryness at the roots as the plants will bear without 
flagging, both before and after cutting and pruning. 
The plants are thus less charged with moisture. In 
addition to this, both early and late in the season, when 
there is a deficiency of sun power to consolidate the 
wood, or elaborate the juices, every cut should be 
daubed, almost as soon as made, witli quicklime and 
charcoal dust; a small pot full of the commodity, with 
the assistance of the finger and thumb, will soon daub 
a hundred or two of wounds. At both these seasons, 
and when extra luxuriant in dull weather in summer, 
stopping and disbudding, should, as much as possible, 
take the place of pruning. In such circumstances, 
until the wounds are healing, the syringe should be 
little used, and when necessary to apply it at all, after, 
or during, a sunny day, clear lime-water, moderately 
caustic, will be the best. 
The fourth drawback in the culture of the plant is a 
decaying of the young fruit. This evil has been more 
than usually prevalent for these few seasons. The plants 
appear healthy, the fruit shows plentifully, but after 
the bloom at its point shrivels up there is no progres¬ 
sion; the fruit withers or rots at the point, and if 
allowed, the decay goes backward, until the forestalk 
of the fruit is reached. The finer and longer-grow¬ 
ing kinds are most subject to this evil. Young fruit 
that have been fecundated are not so liable as those 
left alone ; but then, in long kinds, a fruit with seed 
in it is seldom so handsome, nor yet so sweet and 
crisp as one without it. I have come to the conclusion 
that this evil is chiefly attributable to opposite causes. 
First, an undue excitement to the growing principle, by 
plenty of heat and moisture at the roots, and heat and 
moisture in excess in the atmosphere. In this case, 
more air has effected the remedy, by arresting mere 
vegetable growth. Secondly, it is often owing to a want 
of equal action between roots and branches, such as 
when the roots are cold and wet, and the atmosphere 
dry and warm; and just the opposite when the atmosphere 
is moist, and the roots extra dry. When the disease 
manifests itself in frames, the best remedy will, in general, 
be a healthy root action, by the application of sweet dung 
linings, and these raised so high round the box, or pit, 
that a free current of air may pass over the plants. A 
little-air left on at night is also of great importance. 
When manifesting itself in places heated by hot-water, 
the securing of a medium state of moisture at the roots, 
and plenty of air above, with no more moisture than 
was raised by evaporating pans, was generally sufficient 
for throwing more strength into the young fruit. There 
is also a mechanical contrivance which I can unreserv 
edly commend, and especially in the case of young, lux¬ 
uriant plants early in the spring, when one Cucumber 
is more thought of than a score or two at present, and 
which may easily be adopted when the plants are trained 
on trellises, either in houses, frames, or pits; namely, 
when the bloom at the end of the fruit has been open a 
day or two, bring its petals together, tie them with a 
piece of matting, and to the end of that string of mat¬ 
ting leave a piece of stone, an ounce or more in weight, 
dangling. When I used to pride myself in growing 
Cucumbers from two to two-and-a-half feet in length, I 
have had weights suspended from a dried-up blossom 
of from half-an-ounce to four ounces; and, in obstinate 
cases, I have clapped another weight attached to the 
footstalk of the fruit, the object being by the strain to 
attract the nourishing juices to that part, much on the 
same principle that the arms of the blacksmith obtain 
what would be deemed by some wondrous strength of 
bone aud muscle by the swinging of the sledge hammer. 
The last discaso to which I will allude is one even 
more annoying than any of these—a sort of nasty, 
jelly-like gummy secretion, that conies from stems and 
fruits, disfiguring the latter, and, if even arrested, 
leaving a scar and a spot on the fruit. The first time 
this came under my own particular notice was last 
season. The variety was a very good kind, and pro¬ 
duced, in a wide, temporary box, some most excellent 
fruit, namely, Hunter's Prolific. The disease manifested 
itself chiefly towards autumn; and I attributed it 
chiefly then to a coldness and extra moisture at the 
