Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/126

106] dung begins to heat, when a little of it may be drawn flat on the outside, and covered two inches thick with good earth; over which a bell-glass ought to be placed; and, two days after, when the soil is warm, the seeds should be sown, covered with fresh mould, one-fourth of an inch thick, and the glass again set over it. This must be screened with a mat during the night, and in four days the young plants will germinate. As soon as they appear, the rest of the dung must be beaten close together into a bed for one or more lights, which should be three feet thick, and covered three inches deep with fine fresh earth; the frame is then to be put on; and, during the night, or in bad weather, sheltered with mats. When the soil is hot enough, the young plants must be removed into it, and set at two inches distance, the glasses being occasionally raised, to admit fresh air, and also frequently turned, to prevent the wet steam of the dung from dropping down on the plants. These ought to be watered at stated times, with tepid, or luke-warm water; and, as they increase in size, should be earthed up; an operation which will considerably augment their strength. If the bed be not hot enough, fresh litter should be laid round its sides; but, if it be too warm, they should be perforated with a stake, to give vent to the heat; and, as soon as the bed acquires a proper temperature, the holes are to be closed up with fresh earth. When the plants begin to shoot their third, or rough leaf, another bed should be prepared for them, similar to the first; and, when the soil is thoroughly warmed, they should be transplanted into it, in holes about a foot deep, and nine inches broad, filled with light, fine, fresh mould, laid in a hollow, circular form. In each of these holes four plants should be set, and shaded for two or three days from the heat of the sun, that they may strike root; after which time it will be useful to expose them to the sun, and the air, as often as the weather will permit. When they have attained the height of four or five inches, they should be gently fastened down to the soil, in different directions; and the branches afterwards produced, ought to be treated in a similar manner, as it will much contribute to forward their maturity. In the course of a month, the flowers will appear, and, shortly after, the rudiments of the fruit. The glasses should now be carefully covered during the night, and the plants gently sprinkled with water, in the day time. These will produce fruit till Midsummer; and may be succeeded by a second crop, which is to be raised nearly in the same manner as the earlier cucumbers; with this only difference, that the former should be sown toward the end of March, or the beginning of April, and that it requires less care and attention.

The proper season for sowing cucumbers of the last crop, or those destined for pickling, is towards the latter end of May, when the weather is settled: they should be set to the number of eight or nine, in shallow holes, and filled up with fine earth. After appearing above ground, they need only be kept clear from weeds, and occasionally watered. Five plants are to be left, at first, in each hole; and, as soon as they have grown a little larger, the worst of them is to be pulled up, so that their ber