February 4, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
3G1 
CULTIVATION OF THE 
CUCUMBER. 
Notwithstanding the somewhat cynical recipe for 
preparing Cucumbers for salad, namely, to cut them 
up, add salt, pepper, and vinegar, and then throw 
them on the dung-hill—very good advice, no doubt, to 
those troubled with indigestion—they are still grown in 
every garden of any pretentions, and sold in divers 
places, from the fashionable “ stores ” down to the 
humble “coster’s barrow”; and how proud is the 
enthusiastic amateur or cottager who can produce a 
nice crisp tender Cucumber for his own table! Now 
those who indulge in their cultivation will soon be 
making preparation. The best structure in which to 
grow them is a well-heated span-roofed house, where 
you can start them earlier, and also have them later, 
than by growing them in the ordinary frame on a hot¬ 
bed. 
In growing Cucumbers it is most desirable to obtain 
a good variety, free-growing and prolific. Sutton’s 
Improved Telegraph is one of the best in cultivation. 
Sow the seeds singly in small pots, using light soil, 
place them on a good bottom heat, and cover with a 
square of glass ; as soon as they are through the soil 
place them where they will receive plenty of light to 
prevent their becoming drawn ; when they have made 
in full growth and fruit must never suffer from want of 
water, and they require plenty of atmospheric moisture 
or they soon become a prey to that pest called red- 
spider. Top-dress occasionally with rich soil, composed 
of loam, leaf-soil, and horse-droppings, the latter being 
rubbed through a sieve ; this will invigorate the plants, 
and when heavily cropped soot-water and manure- 
water will be beneficial. Do not train the shoots too 
thick, and thin out old growth that has done bearing. 
If the convenience of a Cucumber house does not 
exist, recourse must be had to the hot-bed and frame 
system. Stake out the ground 1 ft. larger all round 
than the frame, and in making the bed, be careful to 
construct it of such solidity that it will sink alike all 
over ; keep the sides perpendicular, and when finished 
it should be about 5 ft. high at the back, and 4 ft. in 
front, sloping towards the south. Place the frame on 
the bed and put in the soil; insert a stick, which should 
be drawn out now and then to ascertain the heat of the 
bed. 
The plants may be put out when the heat is not 
likely to rise too high ; when the heat declines, linings 
should be built round to enliven the heat in the bed, 
protecting at night by covering the lights w'ith mats. 
Carefully ventilate, and if too much steam arises in the 
frame, leave a little air on all night to let it escape, 
inadequate, both for height and extent, to accommodate 
them. On this account it was resolved to build a new 
one, and Messrs. James Boyd & Sons, Paisley,who erected 
the hothouses at the Botanic Gardens, Glasgow, also 
designed and built the Palm-house at Glasnevin. They 
had to labour under exceptional difficulties, inasmuch as 
the new building was constructed over the old one—a 
feat effected without removing the plants, and without 
the least accident. The building was commenced in 
March, 1884, and completed in September of that year. 
It is an imposing building, as the illustration which 
represents it as seen from a little distance will show. 
In dimensions it measures about 108 ft. in length, 88J 
ft. in breadth, and 72 ft. in height. The vertical parts 
are of teak-wood, while the galleries and roof are of 
malleable iron. It may be necessary here to state that 
the central and higher part of the building is supported 
cn columns from the basement, as the section of 
elevation shows. These columns are 47 ft. in height, 
and support a gallery about 1 yd. in width on their 
inner side, at about a height of 26 ft. from the ground. 
This gallery serves to bind together and consolidate 
the whole building. A staircase placed in a wing or 
portion of the building used for potting purposes gives 
access to the gallery mentioned, as well as to the two 
galleries on the exterior of the building, which are all 
The Palm House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin. 
their rough leaf shift them into 48’s, using a compost 
of equal parts light loam and leaf-soil that has been 
warmed previous to using, and keep the young plants 
in a nice growing temperature of 70°. 
During the time the plants are growing, make pre¬ 
parations for the bed to receive them when large 
enough to plant out. If they are to be grown in a 
house, thoroughly wash the glass and woodwork, so as 
to obtain all the light possible ; also lime-wash the 
walls, in order to destroy any lurking insect eggs, and 
to make all sweet and clean. Presuming the bed is 
provided with pipes for bottom-heat, cover them with 
rough pieces of wood, over which place a layer of short 
litter, and fill up with short dung and leaves that have 
previously been thrown together to ferment, and turned 
over now and then to rid them of the rank steam. 
Cover this with a layer of coarse leaf-soil, and then put 
on the compost of turfy loam and leaf-soil, making a 
hillock for each plant. When the whole has become 
thoroughly warmed through, put out the plants, 
placing a stake to each to support them until they 
reach the wire trellis. 
The plants will soon make headway in a temperature 
of 70° by day, with a rise of 10° or so by sun-heat; but 
the night temperature should not exceed 65°, or the 
growth will be weak and long-jointed—the very opposite 
of what it should be. They will require careful watering 
until the bed becomes well furnished with roots, after 
which copious supplies will be necessary. Cucumbers 
taking care when covering up not to let the mats hang 
over the sides of the frame, as the rank steam from the 
linings may generate under them, make its way into 
the frame, and burn the plants. 
Growers of frame Cucumbers naturally like to have 
them as early as possible, but unless they have a good 
supply of stable litter and the weather is favourable, 
nothing is gained by starting too early. If the plants 
are starved in their young state they seldom grow freely 
afterwards, therefore the end of March or beginning of 
April is a suitable time to plant .—George Potts, Junr. 
-- 
THE NEW PALM HOUSE AT 
GLASNEVIN. 
Glasnevin is situated about two miles from Dublin, 
where the now famous Botanic Garden was founded, in 
1790, by the Royal Society of Dublin. For some years, 
however, it has been in the hands of the Board of 
Education of the Science and Art Department, and is 
therefore kept up by the State, as are the gardens at 
Kew. The garden has now so increased in importance 
under the curatorship of Mr. F. W. Moore, and his 
father, Dr. David Moore, before him, that amongst 
establishments of the same kind it is second only to 
that at Kew. 
The collection of Palms and all kinds of stove plants 
had so increased under the care of the Messrs. Moore— 
father and son—that the old Palm house became quite 
put in communication with one another by means of 
moveable ladders designed for the purpose. These 
galleries measure, in all, about 740 ft. in length. 
Slate staging surround the sides of the house 
internally, and under this are ten rows of 4-in. hot- 
w'ater pipes. This assemblage of pipes, as well as 
those which serve the Orchid house on the right, and 
the Camellia house on the left of the Palm house, is 
heated by two independent boilers in case of accident. 
A small and separate boiler, used so as to avoid pressure 
on the apparatus in the lower part of the house, heats 
a row of 3-in. piping at the top of the columns, so as 
to prevent cold currents of air in that part of the 
house. 
Climbing plants cover the side walls ; a gravel walk 
runs alongside the side staging, and the centre of the 
house is entirely devoted to large plants which are not 
planted out, but grown in round tubs of teak wood, so 
that they may be turned round to the light if need be 
to equalise their growth, or moved about so as to give 
them more room if they should require it. Ve have 
already alluded to the imposing character of the build¬ 
ing, and should add that it is a triumph of skill, both 
when we consider the difficulties under which it was 
accomplished, the rapidity of its execution, and its 
cheapness—its entire cost not exceeding £4,708 6 s. 8d. 
The house has recently formed the subject of a 
brochure from the pen of Mr. Charles Joly, of Paris, to 
whose courtesy we are indebted for the illustrations. 
