January 15. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
243 
mischief has been clone by neglecting this necessary 
precaution. When it is in proper condition, some fine 
morning, bring the plants, one or two at a time, to the 
potting-bench, and proceed to pot them. The pots 
should either be new, or well-washed, as should also the 
drainage. At this shift they will require, at least, an 
inch of drainage. There should be about an inch of 
space between the ball and the sides of the pots. Turn 
the plants carefully out of the pots, pick out the greater 
part of the old drainage, place as much soil upon the 
new drainage as will raise the ball nearly level with the 
rim of the pot, avoid deep potting (it is only coarse- 
growiug plants that will bear it, such as the Dahlia or 
the Chrysanthemum ), press the earth down round the 
ball firmly, but gently, and give a smart stroke upon a 
firm part of the bench to settle the whole. This will 
leave sufficient space within the rim of the pot to hold 
a good watering. As the plants are finished potting, 
return them to the pit, and water them moderately 
overhead. During the operation, let everything they 
need be done to them in the way of pegging down the 
shoots when long enough, trimming off decayed leaves, 
stopping the shoots, applying sticks, and cleaning off 
insects if any appear on the plants. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued .) 
NOTES ON THE CUCUMBER. 
We have, at various times during the last few weeks, 
directed the attention of our readers to the necessity of 
keeping a watchful eye over their cucumber plants, which 
we presume some to have in a bearing state in pits 
heated by some contrivance to which fire is applied; it 
is true they may be carried through the winter, in a 
structure heated something after the manner of what used 
to be called “Mills’s pit;” but the labour attending re¬ 
moving, and replacing the lining, and the consequent 
uncertainty of being at all times able to communicate the 
necessary amount of heat, has led to that system being 
all but abandoned as an agent for winter forcing, anti 
another one substituted, heated by hot water, over which 
we have complete control. Now, we presume it to be a pit 
of the latter class that winter cucumbers have been grow¬ 
ing in, or it might be in a corner of the pine pit, or similar 
place; at all events, the atmosphere necessary to maintain 
this delicate plant in health during the late dull period, 
must have been a congenial one, and such as we have be¬ 
fore recommended ought to be some 5° warmer than that 
of the usual stove; and we shall presume the skilful cul¬ 
tivator to have been cutting fruit for some time, and 
likely to continue doing so. With him, the danger of 
“ the dark days” will speedily be past, and the resources 
he has at command enables him to rear young plants 
in any number, to furnish his dung frames in spring 
and early summer; we, therefore, dismiss him for the 
present, and turn our attention to the less fortunate 
class of cultivators, and which present by far the most 
numerous portion, who have no other mode of growing 
this fruit than in the ordinary box frame, heated by 
fermenting substances, yet they often contrive to grow 
it to a degree of perfection which has never been excelled 
by those grown in the most efficiently hot-water-heated 
pit. Besides that, many who have such a pit have other 
uses for it, so that this important production must find 
a place out-of-doors somewhere. 
We shall begin by supposing the amateur to reside in 
a rural district, remote from any place where he has any 
chance to obtain a pot or two of plants, and, therefore, 
is under the necessity of rearing them for himself; but 
in such a situation we suppose him to be possessed of a 
tolerable share of stable dung and tree leaves (tan is 
more a suburban article). The stable dung we recom¬ 
mend by all means to be removed from the place where 
it has been deposited, before it becomes heated so as to 
appear white and mouldy. After being brought to 
some suitable place, let it be well mixed by throwing 
into a heap, which, on the third day after, will want 
turning again, and three days after that will require 
another turning ; in fact, this turning and mixing must 
be continued until that disagreeable smell it has at first 
begins to subside; and then, if necessary, a few leaves 
may be added, after which the turning need not be so 
frequent, as the tendency to heat so violently, and thus 
waste its powers, will, by this time, have been overcome, 
and a genial warmth, emitting a vapour, which, whatever 
be the names of the gases forming its component parts, 
is better known to gardeners as a fine, sweet, growing 
heat, so that the amateur, or even he who has never 
noticed the manner in which things are growing, will 
at once pronounce it as a likely medium for the purpose. 
Now, while the above has been going on, we presume 
a preliminary process in the way of germinating the 
seed has been carried on simultaneously. Often in our 
younger days, and when other means were scarce, we 
have plunged the pots containing our cucumber seeds 
in the mass of dung preparing for the bed, covering 
them up with a common hand-light; this plan we even 
adopt now with seeds that are sluggish, or unwilling to 
grow by other means. But in recommending this 
homely plan to the amateur, we must not omit warning 
him of the dangers attending it, and he must have some 
other place ready to remove his pots of seedlings to, 
just as they are breaking through the ground, otherwise 
the steam and other foul vapours will prove fatal to 
them ; nevertheless, we have sometimes managed to 
make up a sort of a rude bed of the best-tempered 
portion of the dung, at a corner of the heap, and, cover¬ 
ing it with ashes, have placed a small frame on, in which 
our seedlings succeeded for a time, until the bed intended 
for their final abode was in readiness. We may here 
mention, that there is an advantage in delaying this 
part of the process, provided the plants are progressing 
favourably where they are ; many a young gardener is 
in too great a hurry to get the plants turned out, vainly 
thinking that is a token of earliness and good manage¬ 
ment, while his less ambitious neighbour, by not doing 
that so soon, has been able to “ cut fruit ” quite as early. 
The reasons are apparent: the newly made-up bed ex¬ 
hausts an amount of heat to little or no pmrpose, and 
cold weather coming on before it can derive much bene¬ 
fit from solar influences, the plants are checked. Cer¬ 
tainly, assiduous lining will prevent such a state of 
things, but what we want to instil into the mind of the 
amateur is to “ husband his resources.” We have no 
question but the demand on them from other quarters 
will be quite equal to the supply, but we will suppose 
the number of seed pots and pans to be such as to fill 
a frame (as we never like to see a genial heat idle), and 1 
pots of melons, pans of celery, and other seed pots (not 
plants or cuttings) might also form a portion of the 
contents. When such is the case, let a suitable bed be i 
prepared at once, by building up a proper-sized one of 
the sweetest of the prepared dung; and, the top being 
covered pretty deep with coal ashes, the various pots [ 
may then be plunged. 
In general, there will be sufficient moisture to serve 1 
without any watering, and old seeds especially must be j 
watered with caution. We must not forget that in the j 
making and fitting up of this bed the interior of the 
box ought to be filled with fermenting materials, so that 
about three inches of ashes will raise the pots to within 
six inches of the glass, which must be particularly 
clean, and if glazed with the “ long sheet” so much the 
better. The frame inside ought to have had a thorough 
cleaning previously to using for such an important 
office. 
►Supposing all to be going on favourably, the seeds 
