The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-06-27
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Culture of Cucumbers for Pickles.

Culture of Cucumbcrs for Pickles.
The culture of cucumbers for picking
is very profitable under some circum-
stances. These are when the grower is
near large city, or has facilities for dis
posing of his product in a fresh state to
factories in which the vegetables are
picked either in salt or vinegar, or when
he has facilities for preserving them him
self for sale IN distant markets, as in
manufacturing towns, numbering or
mining villages and camps, or to dealers
in ship stores. or even to village stores,
where the pickles can be retaied during
the winter season. AS there is a large
and regular demand for pickles, there
are many places where factories can be
established for their manufacture with
success and profit, and more conveniently
in con junction with the business of cider
making, with view to providing a sup
ply of pure vinegar; canning and drying
vegetables and fruits making jellies,
and even adding to all these an outfit for
making sorghum syrup and sugar from
the cane. a factory of this kind could
find work the whole year round, and
would require only very moderate cap
ital for its furnishing. because the same
building and much of the apparatus
would serve for all these purposes, and
some only would be required for each
special use. But pickle factory should
be erected in a good apple country, where
fruit for cider could be procured very
cheaply.
The culture of the cucumbers is very
81, 10 . IL. II L.,
sists almost wholly of water yet it re-
quires rich soil, or at least liberal guam
tity of manure, to force the growth so
quickly as to secure the requisite tender
ness and succulence. A light, sandy,
warm soil is the best. This is plowed
deeply, because the roots of all the
ground tribe spread widely and love a
loose soil, in which they can find ade-
quate moisture and warmth. For the
picking varieties, of which the Green
Prolific is the best and is almost univer.
sally grown, the ground is marked out
four feet apart each way, deep furrow
being made so as to leave room for a
good shovelful of rich compost at each
crossing. This is worked in with the
spade or hoe and the ground leveled.
Five or six seeds are dropped in each
hill, about one pound of seed being re-
quired for one acre. When the plants
are up they are thinned out to three to
each hill. When the seed is sown a
broadcast dressing of 300 or 400 pounds
OF Peruvian guano per acre may be given
with great advantage, as this fertilizer
seems to have a specially good effect on
this crop; superphosphate of lime is the
next best, and fine bone flour comes next.
With this preparation and 400 pounds of
guano per acre, costing SIS, we have
grown over 300, 900 cucumbcrs to
the acre, which is double the average
crop and equal to about 100 to
each hill. The excess in this case was
clearly due to the fertilizer, as the pro-
duct was more than doubled by it, so
that the expenditure of fifteen dollars re-
paid nearly 5000 in increase of crop, as
the cucumbers were sold at one dollar
and fifty cents per 1000. Some atten-
ton is required to secure a good yield.
The ground must be kept loose by fire.
quent cultivation until the vines cover
the ground. The main vines must be
pinched at the ends to keep them within
bounds and to encourage the ou,growth
OF side branches, which are the most pro-
life of fruit. The main branches bear
chiefly male or staminate flowers. which
are barren fruit, and the side branches
bear the pistillate or productive flowers;
SO that the great secret in growing this
crop, as well as all kinds of cucumbers,
melons, and squashes, consists in this
shortening Of the main vine and the en-
couragement of the lat,rals. The fruit
is gathered every morning as soon as it
has reached a proper size, which is from
two to three inches. These cucumbers
are never cut, but are always preserved
and picked whole. The chief labor is
in preventing damage by lice and the
small cucumber beetle for the former
we find the best remedy to be to
pluck off the first infested leaves, by
which the otherwise rapid spread of this
pest is prevented. For the other pest
busting with finely ground gypsum is
the best and usual remedy.-New York
Times.