There is no difficulty in having Cucumbers fresh-gathered from the vine all the year round, but, of course, with a plant which is so soon injured by cold, all, excepting the summer crop, have to be grown under glass, and the necessary heat must be applied artificially. Were a house to be erected for this purpose, a very suitable one would be as represented in the accompanying cross-section plan, and heated by a flue A, B; or, still better, hot-water pipes and boiler. Such a house might be ten feet wide by as many feet long as the proprietor might think fit, and it is not for cucumbers alone that this would be useful. Bush-beans, strawberries, and some other things of like character, could be forced, if introduced into the same apartment; besides, its suitableness for propagating young flowering plants. There is no real necessity for going to the expense of such an erection where there are other houses in which the more tender exotics are grown, and a night temperature of 60° is kept, as a small portion may be used for this purpose, and four or five plants trained up near the glass, will give a supply for a small family the whole winter.

The Cucumber, as it is most commonly grown, is but an annual plant, but it is possible to extend its lifetime, and it may be propagated from seeds, or by layers and cuttings. The first is the readiest method, but if we desire to retain some individual plant of superior excellence, and have not got any seed of the same, it becomes necessary to resort to the other modes of increase. To grow from cutting*, take a short-jointed branch of not more than three or four leaves; cut off with a sharp knife immediately below a leaf-joint, remove the lower leaf down to the knot, and place the cutting so prepared one inch deep in a four-inch pot filled with sandy vegetable earth. If the operation be performed in hot summer time, remove to a shady and damp place in a frame or other glass convenience; cover with a bell glass, or other similar substitute, but not too close; leave a small opening for the extreme moisture to escape, to prevent damping. At any other season, the best place is the warmest part of a forcing-house, and the addition of a little bottom warmth; water rather sparingly nntil roots are emitted, bat keep the soil moist.

Layers may be rooted in the following manner: Choose a short-jointed shoot; have a four-inch pot in readiness half filled with the above-mentioned soil; sink it up to the rim directly under the intended layer; cut off the third or fourth leaf from the top down to the axil, and bend this joint into the pot until it touches the earth; next fill up to near the top, and place a stone over the whole, to keep the branch from springing; give water as may be required, and, in three weeks, the newly rooted plant may be cut off, and planted where needed. If a supply of fruit be wanted for fall and midwinter use, the seed may be sown, or the above operations performed about the beginning of August.

When the cuttings or layers are well rooted, or the seedling plants have got three rough leaves, they will be ready for planting in their fruiting quarters, which should be the warmest part of the hothouse, or as shown in the plan, and either placed near the glass, or trained up with a straight stem until the top arrives thereat, when it may be nipped out. The after-training will be the same as explained for out-door culture, only each branch will need to be tied so as to keep the leaves near the under side of the roof, in the same way that grape-vines are managed. A box or pot containing three cubic feet, will hold soil enough for a plant during the season, which ought to be well drained by putting two inches of broken crocks or charcoal in the bottom. Liquid manure will have to be applied occasionally during active growth, and this may be diluted drainings from the stable, or guano dissolved in the proportion of one ounce to a gallon. Keep the temperature at 60° by night, with a rise of ten to fifteen degrees during sunshine, and maintain a moist atmosphere.