Theory and Practice, Applied to the Cultivation of the Cucumber in the Winter Season: To Which Is Added a Chapter on MelonsMoore, Thomas
Science
Theory and Practice, Applied to the Cultivation of the Cucumber in the Winter Season: To Which Is Added a Chapter on Melons
Moore, Thomas
Cucumbers
I have, at p. 26, given what appear to me to be some of the principal
reasons against the practice of transplanting, or planting out, Cucumber
and other plants. When this is done after any quantity of roots are
produced, some injury or check must be sustained during the process; and
checks of this kind are opposed to the realisation of the greatest results
within the shortest period, which of course is the great object in view.
Where it is inconvenient to plant the seeds in the places the plants are
intended to occupy, or to put out the young plants during the earliest
period of their development, or where propagation by cuttings or layers,
is adopted, and the plants of course have to be potted separately, so as
to be in a removable state, the following simple plan may be adopted, and
will be found to combine all the advantages and conveniences attending the
use of pots, with the avoidance of the evils of transplantation, &c. The
plan referred to, consists in the employment of turf or peat, so contrived
as to supply the place of pots, and which of course at the time of
planting is simply placed, along with the plant it contains, at once into
the soil, without in the least disturbing the roots, which, growing
through the substance of the turf, extend beyond it in all directions into
the free soil provided for them. These turf pots are made of spongy,
fibrous turf--whether loamy or peaty is not material, provided it is full
of fibre, so as to admit of being readily traversed by the roots. The
grassy surface is evenly removed, and the under-turves are cut three or
four inches in thickness, and are then divided into squares of about three
inches across. The centre of each of these little squares is taken out by
means of an iron scoop, such as that represented in the annexed sketch;
and this is then filled up with soil, and the plant, or seed, or cutting,
or layer, inserted as if it were into an ordinary flower pot. It will be
obvious that by this plan, every plant is independent and perfectly
removable--thus securing the convenience of sowing or planting and rearing
the plants in pots during their earliest stages: on the other hand, at the
time of planting out permanently, the plant, turf, and all being set
carefully into the soil, no check is sustained, because the roots remain
undisturbed, and may, as they advance, penetrate through the turf into the
prepared soil which surrounds them; in this way the advantages of sowing
or planting at the very first in the position the plants are intended to
occupy permanently, are secured.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account