CUCUMBER. 
55 
pfng )r cutting off the runner3 as before directed, lor at this season vegetation 
will be less vigorous and there will be less danger of the plant running too 
much to vine. 
liaising plants from cuttings. — u Instead of raising cucumber plants from 
seed, they may be raised from cuttings, and thus kept on from year to year 
in the following manner:—Take a shoot that is just ready for stopping, cut 
it off just below the joint, behind the joint before which the shoot should 
have been stopped; then cut smooth the lower end of the shoot or cutting, 
and stick it into line leaf or other rich mould about an inch deep, and give it 
plenty of heat, and shade it from the rays ol the sun till it be fairly struck. 
By this method, as well as by that of laying, cucumbers may be propagated. 
“ Mearns, gardener at Shobden Court, near Leominster, propagates his 
cucumber-plants for a winter crop in this way, and “ finds that the plants 
raised fronl cuttings are less succulent, and therefore do not so readily damp 
off, or suffer from the low temperature to which they are liable to be ex¬ 
posed in severe vveather; that they come into bearing immediately, as the} 
have formed roots of sufficient strength to support their fruit, and do not run 
so much to barren vine as seedlings are apt to do . v He takes the cuttings 
from the tops of the bearing shoots, and plants them in pots nine inches deep, 
half filled with mould. He then waters them, covers the tops of the pots 
with flat pieces of glass, and plunges them into a gentle bottom heat. “The 
sides of the pot act as a sufficient shade for the cuttings during the time they 
are striking, and the flat glass, in this and other operations, answers all the 
purposes of bell-glasses. The cuttings form roots, and are ready to put oft* in 
less than a fortnight.^— -Hort. Trans, vol. iv, p 411. 
Cucumbers increased by layers.— As soon as several flower-buds appear 
on a plant, bend the second or third joint of a branch below the blossom, 
fasten it firmly into the ground, and cut off the capillary point of the plant; 
it speedily takes root, and must be separated from the parent stock; as each 
root has only to supply a few fruits with nourishment, it saves room, labor 
and time, and affords a constant supply for eight, twelve, and more months, 
which is not so liable to degenerate as if they were raised from a variety of 
seeds — Gleanings in Husbandry. 
Culture. —In the culture of all the crops, give proper supplies of water in 
dry, warm weather, two or three times a week, or every day when very 
warm and dry. If the heat in the hot-beds, after three or four weeks or 
more, be much declined, and the nights or general season remain cold, let a 
moderate lining of hot dung be applied to both sides ; which will not only 
cause a reviving heat, but widen the bed for the roots and runners of the 
plants to extend. 
Insects —“ The fly, which is often very destructive to cucumbers, melons 
and pumpkins, may be killed by sprinkling a mixture of tobacco water and 
red pepper over the vines. ,J — Horn. Encyc. Sprinkle the plants with a strong 
