Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1875 — The Culture of Cucumbers. [ARTICLE]

The Culture of Cucumbers.

The common method among farmers in planting f oucumber, melon and squash seeds is to dig a deep hole, partially fill with barn-yard manure, pile the dirt on this, forming a hill four to six inches above the surface, and plant on that. All this is misdirected and worse than useless labor. Cucumbers and melons enjoy rich soil, but they do not want tl\e richness burled so deeply in the ground that their roots cannot reach it.until after midsummer. They do not do so well on an elevated seedbed as on level ground, and if good drainage were afforded we should prefer to plant the seeds rather below than above the level of the surrounding surface, that rains might run toward the plant rather than from it. The large amount of heating manure beneath the hill makes the surface dry all the more rapidly, and this is especially true when it is rounded up several inches higher than the adjoining ground. Seeds thus planted may do well very early in the spring, but will wither and dry out by midsummer. Our own experience has been that manure should be well composted, thoroughly mixed with the soil to the depth of four or five inches, and the seed-bed kept as near the level of the ground as possible. For late cucumbers and melons we have often planted without using any manure, relying on applications of liquid manure after the plants came up. Solid manure even in contact with the roots cannot help the plant unless there is water enoOgh to make some parts soluble, and sometimes we shall have two or three weeks in midsummer without any rain. In such cases vines quickly dry up and become an easy prey to insect enemies. The best way to manure melons or other vines is by manure water, made strong and placed in direct contact with the roots. We h3ve never known it to be strong enough to injure the plants, and it always gave a luxuriance of growth that would do any one good to behold. It can be thrown directly over the vines, drenching them and soaking down to the roots; but a much better way is to carefully remove the surface soil from around the roots, pour in the manure water, and after it has soaked in the ground replace the surface soil, which thus acts as a mulch. This plan .secures the benefit of hoeing and manuring at the same time. Or deep holes can be punched into the soil with a hoe-handle and manure water turned into these until they are filled. The water and manure will spread in every direction and the roots will speedily reach their food. This is an excellent plan where unrotted stable manure has been buried undef a hill early in the season and is now probably suffering from lack of moisture. The manure water will Set the mass to heating and at the same time furnish sufficient moisture for

the roots, causing a most vigorous growth. In all cases water for plants should be as warm as the air at the time, and considerably wanner would be still better. On no account should tender plants be drenched at any time with water newly-drawn from deep wells or cold cisterns and springs. If yon use such water let it stand in the sun at least one day to become warm as possible before applying. Many people drench their melon vines with cold water from the well; the ground is packed hard hy the water poured on it, the plants are chilled, turn sickly and die, and then the wonder is that they do not do well. Better let your vines go with no watering than give them such treatment as this.— Rural Lew Yorker.