Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-22
The Cultivation of Cucumbers.

Within a few years the cultivation of
cucumbers for the manufacture of pickles
has increased very largely in the South.
They can be put up in brine anywhere
and shipped TO market, aud it is crop
that usually returns a handsome profit.
An Illinois correspondent of the Western
Rural furnishes the following in regard
to the cultivation of the cucumber:
There are few farmers who have not
some land that will grow cucumbers for
pickles, more prOfitably than anything
else. New land planted once or twice is
the very best for the crop, being free from
weeds, rot needing so much manure. The
ground should be rich and dry; no water
should stand on it, as the vines are easily
scalded by letting water stand close to
them, or drowned by having too much
water on the roots. Prepare the land the
same as for corn; mark six feet apart
both ways. If your land is not very rich,
make the first mark with the plow. A
the crossing, drop a shovel of well-rOtted
manure; cover the manure with two inch
es of soil, before you drop the seed;
cover the seed about one inch deep.
The best time to plow the ground is
about the 10th Of June, just before plant
ing. This destroys the first crop Of weeds
and gives the Cucumbers good start be-
fore the new growth of weeds commences.
The best time to plant is about the 18th
of June, as by that time the striped bugs
| (the cucumber vines worst enemy are
mostly gone, and you are free from their
rayages.
If the weather be favorable, they will
be up so that you can go through them in
ten days with the cultivator. After they
are in the rough leaf, go over them with
the hoe and thin them out to three or four
plants to the hill; cultivate until they begin
to cover the ground. They must be kept
clear of weeds. Usually about seven
weeks after planting, picking commences
in earnest. Boys and girls are generally
-employed to do the picking, as they can
do as much as men at about half the
wages. Take one year with another Gf
the weather be fayorable), one hand 10
the acre is sufficient.
| In picking, use baskets, and have the
cueumbers salted az soon as possible after
being picked. Do not cut the cucumber
from the vine, but break off the stem with
your fOrefnger ann thumb, close up to
the cucumber. The sizes required are
from two to five inches.
1t is not out of place here to give direc-
tions for packing pickles in brine. II
they are very dirty, wash them by throw.
ing water over them. Count the pickles
into clean barrel, fill up the barrel, and
gently shake down, then put on brine
made of fifteen gallons of water and hall
bushel of common fine salt. This il
sufficient for all that can be put into {
forty gallon barrel. Have barrel heat
that will 60 in the barrel, put on top of j
a small stone, or three or four bricks, t.
keep the pickles under the brine all thu
time. Examine the barrels daily, to SCI
that the brine does not leak or soak away
Fill up the barrels every few days unit
you have added one or more bushels. b,
sure and keep the pickles under the brin
all the time.
The varieties mostly grown are the Shor
Green and Early Frame. On rich, wei
cultivated ground, they are said to oftel
yield $50, 200 per acre. have neve
come up TO that, although have ha
some very good crops. The price tn
, manufacturers are offering for the seaso
Of 1870, are $l.50 per 1000 delivere
green; $1.75 in brine
The amount of seed needed to plant a
/ acre is one pound.