1101. _New Method of raising Cucumbers._--From the best seed that can be got of the common prickly cucumber, raise plants on a moderate hot-bed, not hurrying them too much in their growth. In May, when the danger of the frost is nearly over, familiarize the plants, by degrees, to the air, and towards the latter end of the month plant them in the open ground against a south wall. Take care not to give them too much water, as that will injure the fruit. When they have run up about five feet, they will send forth blossoms, and the fruit will begin to show itself soon after. The flesh of cucumbers raised in this manner will be thicker and firmer, and the flavor vastly more delicious, than those raised from the same seed, but planted in the ordinary way, and the runners suffered to trail on the ground. Though a south wall in most gardens, is too much appropriated to other things, to give room for cucumbers in general, yet in every garden a few plants may be so trained by way of rarity, and to save seed, which is found to be greatly improved by this method, so as to produce much better cucumbers in the common way of raising them. One or two plants, so raised, will supply a sufficient quantity of seed for a large garden. Laying a cucumber or melon-bed with tiles, is also of particular service in improving the fruit, and giving it a proper flavor. 1102. _To prevent the irregular Growth of Melons._--It is well known that melons frequently, in certain situations, lose their circular form, and grow larger on one side than the other, and that those misshapen fruits are always bad. To remedy this, take a small forked stick, in proportion to the size of the melon, and thrust it in the ground as nearly as possible to the tail of the fruit, taking the precaution to lay a little moss between the two prongs, and suspend the melon to this fork. In a few days the melon will resume its form, when the fork may be removed, and the operation is finished. The quality of the fruit remains unchanged. 1103. _Easy Method of producing Mushrooms._--If the water wherein mushrooms have been steeped or washed be poured upon an old bed, or if the broken parts of mushrooms be strewed thereon, there will speedily arise great numbers. 1104. _To obtain a good Crop of Onions._--In order to obtain a good crop of onions, it is proper to sow at different seasons, viz., in light soils, in August, January, or early in February; and in heavy wet soils, in March, or early in April. Onions, however, should not be sown in January, unless the ground be in a dry state, which is not often the case at so early a period of the season; but if so, advantage should be taken of it.