402 On the Construction of Brick Pits, 



cult parts of his profession, if he was not well acquainted 

 with the forcing-, and successful manag-ement, of the cucum- 

 ber. Numerous books have been written by eminent prac- 

 tical g-ardeners, wholly upon their cultivation ; and although 

 there has been much useless information mixed up with that 

 which was really desirable, still, the peculiar climate which 

 English gardeners have to contend with, so unfavorable to 

 that of our own, especially for forced fruits, has caused 

 the want of those minute particulars, without which they 

 would not so speedily have arrived to that degree of perfec- 

 tion in forcing, which at the present time they enjoy. 



We have not the opportunity now, to speak so fully of the 

 climate of the two countries, as regards their adaptation to 

 forcing, as we should wish ; but it is apparent to all who 

 have read, and from reading deduced correct opinions, that 

 the bright and long continued sunshine which we are so 

 bountifully favored with, during even our most intense cold 

 weather, is not to be put in comparison with the dull, foggy 

 and damp climate of our transatlantic neighbors, so decidedly 

 unfavorable for early forcing. 



We do not pretend to say that the art of forcing cucum- 

 bers is to be acquired without any labor or experience ; nor 

 indeed, an art which admits of being successfully practised 

 without care and great attention, and without a good fimd 

 of information stored up, by reading the results of practical 

 men; but with the latter, and good judgment, it may be prac- 

 tised profitably and successfully, by any individual who has 

 the desire, and is ambitious to possess such a luxury as the 

 cucumber during the winter season. 



The methods of forcing are various, and all have, in the 

 opinion of the inventors, their peculiar advantages ; that 

 which was first and longest pursued, and which is here 

 mostly in use, was their growth in dung beds ; that is, the 

 plants were raised on beds formed by a large quantity of 

 horse manure, which, in its state of decomposition, gave out 

 heat sufficient to bring the fruit to maturity ; then succeeded 

 brick and wood pits, heated by linings of manure, fire flues, 

 steam, hot water, &c.; but nothing has yet been found so 

 congenial to their nature as the heat produced from manure. 

 M'Phail, Knight, Nairn, Atkinson, Haythorn, Kendall, 

 Weeks, West, and other eminent amateurs and gardeners 

 have published plans and descriptions of their improvements 

 in the construction of pits, each of which have had their 

 merits fully set forth in the Transactions of the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society, and the Gardener's Magazine. The prin- 

 cipal objection to the old dung bed is, that it generates too 

 much steam, and consequently there is always an excess of 

 dampness, which, accompanied with the humid atmosphere 



