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Cucumber Straightener D

English. Mid 19C. with knop for tying to hothouse. 15 inches (38cms).
The Romans used hollow reeds or canes to grow straight cucumbers Indians today grow snake gourds with a stone tied to them to encourage them to grow straight. Said to having been invented by Stephenson of Rocket fame 1845 having become frustrated with crooked cucumbers in his Tapton House gardens. He had several glass cylinders made at his Newcastle steam engine factory. In 1833, re cucumber cultivation, Allen mentions Troughs & Tubes. This is 12yrs before the Stephenson theory. In 1842 Apsley Pellatt who were renowned for making early glass tubes,  were selling ‘Cucumber Tubes’. 3 years before Stephenson was credited for the invention.

The Sub-images are 1. a page from The Florist and Pomologist magazine conducted by Robert Hogg & John Spencer, December 1862. Catalogue entry from Thomas Millington Horticultural Goods 1862. The image appears to show a straightener without a knop. 2. James Phillips & Co advert for Cucumber Glasses. The earlier straighteners may have been laid flat rather than hung.