404 



On the Construction of Brick Pits, 



from this a lead pipe, two inches in diameter (/<,), is conduct- 

 ed throucfh the soil of the bed, and through which hot air 

 continually ascends. The inner wall (b) is built in what is 

 flfenerally termed the pigeon-hole style; that is, with perfora- 

 tions, as seen in the ground plan, and section {fig. 22). 

 Through these perforations the hot air and steam from the 



dung escapes, and circulates 

 all round the soil of the bed, 

 in the flues {i i) formed by 

 the two walls. The doors 

 through which the dung is in- 

 troduced, as seen in the front 

 view of the pit (fig. 23, dd), 

 are two feet eight inches 

 wide, and twenty inches high, 

 and are made fast when up, 

 by a hook and staple or by a 

 large button. They should 

 be made of two inch plank; 

 inner doors may be used, but 

 they are not essential, except in the most severe weather. 

 The pit is sunk two feet in the ground, and the bottoai of 

 the doors are made level with the surface, or sunk only a few 

 inches. The outer and inner wall, with the flue, is covered 

 with a course of bricks laid flatwise : in this course is laid, 

 with mortar, several pieces of wood of the same shape and 

 size of the bricks, to which a plank coping is to be fastened; 



thiscopingshould 

 be ten inches 

 wide, thus ex- 

 tending one inch 

 over the brick 

 work outside and 

 inside of the pit. 

 The whole, when 



• ' ' ' ' = ■ ■ ■ 1 . finished, willhave 



S 10 I 



as neat an ap- 

 pearance as any green-house, and the forcing ground can be 

 kept clean, and in a style corresponding with any part of the 

 garden ; generally, this department has been thrust into some 

 corner, and if the dung bed system is pursued, it always 

 should be ; for it is impossible to preserve any thing like 

 cleanliness where much forcing is carried on. This pit obvi- 

 ates one of the most objectionable things in dung beds. 



In Mr. West's pit, there are four doors, two in the back, 

 and two in the front wall ; instead of the inner wall being 

 built with perforations, it has only a row just under the bars 

 on which the soil, &c., is placed ; the flue only runs up as 



