umber plant, and to be in a swamp is not less deadly.
It must have abundance of moisture above and below, but stagnation of
either air or water will bring disease, ending in a waste of labour.

==The greenhouse cultivation== of the Cucumber for a summer crop only is
the most profitable and simple as well as the most interesting of all
the methods practised. In many gardens the houses that have been filled
during the winter with Geraniums and other plants are very poorly
furnished during the summer, and present a most unsightly appearance.
Now, it is a very easy matter to render them at once profitable and
beautiful, for when clothed with green vines bearing handsome Cucumbers,
such houses are attractive and pay their way amazingly well. To carry
out the routine properly, the house should be cleared at the end of
April, the plants being removed to pits and frames. If possible, make up
the beds on slates laid close over the hot-water pipes, and use a bushel
or more of soil under each light to begin with. First lay on the slate a
large seed-pan, bottom upwards, and on that a few flat tiles, and then
heap up a shallow cone of nice light turfy loam. Start the fire and shut
up, and raise the heat of the empty house to 80 deg. or 90 deg. for one whole
day. The next day plant on each hillock a short stout Cucumber plant, or
sow three seeds. Proceed as advised for frame culture, keeping a
temperature of 60 deg. by night and 80 deg. by day, with a rise of 5 deg. to 10 deg.
during sunshine. Ply the syringe freely, give air carefully, and use the
least amount of shading possible. It will very soon be found that by
judicious management in shutting up and air-giving, the firing may be
dispensed with, and then it remains only to syringe freely and train
with care. The plants should not be stopped at all, but be taken up
direct to the roof and be trained out on a few wires or tarred string,
in the first instance right and left, and afterwards along the rafters
to meet at the ridge, and form a rich leafy arcade. The fruits will
appear in quantity, and must be thinned to prevent over-cropping. As the
plants grow, earth must be added to the hillocks until there is a
continuous bed, on which a certain number of shoots may be trained where
there is sufficient light for them. It is best to begin as advised
above, with the aid of fire heat to start the crop for the sake of
gaining time; but if this is not convenient begin without fire heat in