OF ONE ACRE. 
87 
just the right condition; that is, when the skin of 
the grain breaks at the slightest puncture, and plant¬ 
ings should be made frequently enough always to 
have a supply at this stage. The quality is inferior 
if it is a few days too old or too young. 
CUCUMBERS. 
In raising cucumbers care should be taken to pro¬ 
cure seed that is perfectly pure, as it mixes readily 
with other varieties and deteriorates rapidly. The 
seed should be planted in hills, prepared in the man¬ 
ner described for cantaloupes, three feet apart in the 
row, and the rows 4J to 5 feet apart. If there is not 
enough compost at hand to manure them, as directed 
in the manner of making them, the hills can be 
raked up a few inches above the surface and the 
young plants allowed to feed on the general dressing 
which has been applied to the whole garden; the 
elevation serving to give the young plants a better 
start than on the level surface. While the cucumber 
is a lover of heat and moisture, it is apt to damp off 
in its early stages if it should be cold and wet; the 
hills tending to lift the young plants up into a drier 
and warmer soil. A liberal quantity of seed should 
be sown in each hill, say twenty to forty seeds, that 
there may be enough young plants to survive the 
depredations of the striped cucumber bug and of the 
borers. The young plants should be dusted every 
few mornings with ashes, plaster or slug shot, to 
destroy these pests, and as soon as the plants are suffi¬ 
ciently large to take care of themselves they should 
