SECOND EDITION, WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING REMARKS ON HEATING AERATING, AND COVERING FORCING HOUSES; ON TRANSPLANTING, AND THE USE OF TURF POTS; ON WATERING; ON ATMOS- PHERIC HUMIDITY, &c., &c. LONDON: RICHARD GROOMBRIDGE AND SONS, 5 PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCXLVII. LONDON: PRINTED BY DAVID M. AIED JAMES ST., COVENT GARDEN....

This little treatise is intended as an inducement to young Gardeners especially, to seek for the reasons on which the operations of their daily practice are founded, and by which they are regulated. This announcement is here made, in order to prevent any reader from supposing that the author has unduly estimated the opinions of those who have benefited by a long course of application and experience. As, however, there can be no doubt that there is much to be learned, so is there but little quest

In the present edition, it has been thought best to preserve the original text exactly as it appeared in the first edition. The new matter will be found in the Appendix. The author may take this opportunity of returning his thanks to those who have noticed and commended the former edition, and of expressing a hope that the present will receive an equal share of favour. Camden Town, Aug. 1, 1847....

The Cucumber, Cucumis sativa , is supposed to be a native of the East Indies; but like many other of our culinary plants, the real stations which it naturally has occupied, are involved in obscurity: in habit it is a trailing herb, with thick fleshy stems, broadly palmate leaves, and yellow axillary monæcious flowers. In the natural arrangement of the vegetable kingdom, the genus of which it forms part, ranks in the first grand class, Vasculares , or those plants which are furnished with vessels

I will preface the following remarks on the structures adapted for the growth of Cucumbers, by stating, that a forcing house, a pit, and a common frame, present the means of bringing this fruit to its perfection, equally, one with the other, provided that a course of cultivation suitable to the structure, is followed out; the comparative merits of each, depend not so much on the nature of the results which may be obtained by adopting them, as on the facilities they afford for the attainment of t

Cucumbers are propagated by cuttings, by layers, and by seeds; the two former of these methods being frequently practised by those who have conveniences to keep their plants growing throughout the year; the latter being adopted either through choice or necessity, by the majority of cultivators, or those whose means will not enable them, even if they desired it, to keep up continually a successional growth. Propagation by cuttings has many advantages to recommend it, especially when viewed in con

From the time that the plants become established, which is the period of their existence now about to be considered, they require to have the elements of vegetable growth duly supplied to them, in order to secure their successful developement. It is not enough to plant them in proper soil, and duly to water them, unless attention is also paid to the temperature, as well as the constituents of the atmosphere to which they are submitted; neither will attention to these latter points be sufficient

Plants absorb fluids through the extremities or spongioles of the roots, and it is thus that those portions of the substances which serve them as their food, and are derived from the soil, are carried into their system, in a state of solution: these spongioles are not strictly to be regarded as analogous to the mouths of animals, for they are not provided with openings, and cannot imbibe even the most impalpable powders; their action seems to be more analogous to that of the lacteals in animals,

From what has been stated in the preceeding chapter, it will be sufficiently evident, that a supply of water is required as a component of the soil, in which all plants are grown, in order to enable them to draw from it, other components, which form their food; and that, as it is necessary for them continually to take up a portion of this food, so is it necessary, that moisture should be continually present, in order to render it available by them. Among other conditions to which the operation o

If we figure to our minds, a plant which in its native habitat enjoys a climate far more genial, and a temperature far more elevated, than our own country affords, it must be obvious that some regulation, and increase of temperature, either positively, by the artificial application of heat, or negatively, by affording shelter and protection, will be required in order to ensure any degree of success in its cultivation. The Cucumber is a reputed native of the East, and we have therefore in this su

The question of the admission of air, is one of some importance. It is an opinion, which was I believe first publicly brought forward by the late Mr. Knight, that an influx of a large volume of the external atmosphere, to the interior of forcing houses, is by no means requisite, and is often the source of very serious evils. Were it for no other reason, than that of avoiding the chilling influence of cold air on the tender tissue of plants growing in a high temperature, I should feel inclined to

It is barely possible to suppose any use to which a structure which during the winter season had been devoted to the growth of Cucumbers, could be so legitimately appropriated in the summer, as that of the growth of the finer Melons of Persia, Cashmere, and the East. The superiority of such as these, in every point of view, over those kinds, which have been long in cultivation, would be an ample recompense for the appropriation of such valuable space to their use; whilst in no other structure co

I will here briefly recall attention to a most important point which the cultivator should continually keep in view: it is most important that he should study Nature ; for if we may believe our senses, or place any confidence in overwhelming evidence, we may be certain that all the conditions we observe in a natural state of things, have been planned by an All-wise hand; and further, that a finite mind can never attempt with suc cess, either to surpass or to dispense with any portion of that whi

On Heating, Ventilating or Aerating, and Covering. Since the publication of the first edition of this work in 1844, the views expressed in the second chapter, with reference to structures best adapted for Cucumber culture in the winter season, have met with much corroborative support. Respecting the questions of heating, ventilation, and covering, a few more words may be added. I have before recommended hot water tanks for supplying bottom heat, with attached pipes for the circulation of hot wat