THE 



AMERICAN 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE. 



NOVEMBER, 1835. 



ORIGINAL COMxMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. On the Construction of Brick Pits for early Forcing; to 

 ichich is added the Cultivation and forcing of the Cucumber; 

 taken from Horticultural JMemoranda^ and exhibiting the Slate of 

 their Progress from January until September. By the Con- 

 ductors. 



The early forcing of the cucumber, is, as yet, but very lit- 

 tle practised among amateurs or gardeners in this country. 

 Whether this arises from the impression that they are not 

 easily grown, and without great expense, or from a dislike to 

 the fruit during the early spring months, we have not the 

 means of ascertaining; but we suspect most probably the 

 former: it cannot be from a dislike to the fruit, as it is 

 generally esteemed during the summer months, and the 

 prices, which the few that are to be found in our markets 

 in March and April, command, convince us that they are 

 valued equally with other luxuries of that season. It must 

 be then, that, from preconceived erroneous ideas in relation 

 to the difficulty of their culture, and of the great expense 

 attendant upon the same, amateurs and gardeners have been 

 prevented from bestowing upon them that equal care and 

 attention which they give to other fruits, far less worthy, 

 and which will not near as well repay the latter for their 

 trouble in bringing them to perfection. 



Among the English gardeners, it is an object of the first 

 importance, and one in which emulation is, or has been, car- 

 ried to the highest pitch, in the production of the finest and 

 most excellent specimens of this fruit. The humblest trades- 

 man has his cucumber bed. In truth, an English gardener 

 was formerly considered as wanting in one of the most diffi- 



VOL. I. — NO. XI. 1 



