CUCUMBER 
261 
CUCUMBER. 
Staminate flower on the left, pistillate flower on the right. 
ly replaced by cotton, which here yields so 
little nectar that 2,000 colonies have been 
moved out of the valley.' The larger acre¬ 
age of cotton, and the longer blooming 
season will to some extent compensate for 
the decrease in the alfalfa acreage. 
ASIATIC COTTON. 
About two-fifths or 40 j:>er cent of the 
world’s cotton is grown outside of the 
United States, chiefly in Egypt, India, and 
China. India is the most ancient cotton¬ 
growing country, and five centuries before 
the Christian era the clothing of the peo¬ 
ple consisted chiefly of cotton garments. 
It produces about 18 per cent of the total 
cotton crop of the world. In Egypt, which 
ranks third in the production of commer¬ 
cial cotton, the crop can be raised only 
under irrigation. The land suitable for 
this purpose is restricted to the delta and 
a strip along the river about a mile wide. 
The Asiatic cottons, cultivated as a com¬ 
mercial crop, are varieties of G. herbaeeum. 
China produces about 16 per cent of the 
M T orld’s cotton; and Russia, Peru, and Bra¬ 
zil also yield a small amount. 
CRIMSON CLOVER.— See Clover. 
CROSS BEES. —See Anger of Bees 
CROSSES OF BEES.— See Hybrids. 
CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L.).—In 
the vicinity of pickle factories large areas 
are devoted to growing cucumbers. Two 
factories at Marengo, Ill., are supplied by 
600 acres which yield from 75,000 to 
100,000 bushels of pickles annually. The 
fields vary in size from half an acre'to 
three or four acres, and the ground is 
completely covered by the large heart- 
shaped leaves. The total number of acres 
cultivated for cucumbers thruout the coun¬ 
try must be very large. As many as 300,- 
000 cucumbers have been produced on a 
single acre, but this is more than double 
the average crop. 
In the absence of bees cucumber blos¬ 
soms, whether in the field or hothouse, 
remain barren. The stamens and pistils 
are in different flowers on the same vine, 
the staminate flowers being more abundant 
on the main stems and the pistillate on the 
lateral branches. The former are some¬ 
times incorrectly called “male” and the 
