FORCING PIT. 



FORK. 



favour of its use ; but if it be asked in what 

 points a brick pit is desirable, it may be 

 pointed out that it is generally constructed 

 in a waste corner of the garden, where it is 

 in the way of nothing, always provided that 

 the aspect is a warm one, that it can be 

 filled with more ease and less trouble than 

 to construct a hotbed on which to place a 

 garden frame, and that in the winter, when 

 its work as a forcing pit is over for the 

 season, it can be turned to good account 

 either for stimulating rhubarb and seakale 

 into growth or for protecting half-hardy 

 plants, forming, in fact, an excellent shelter 

 and a miniature conservatory at this season 

 of the year. 



Forcing Pit with Linings. It has been 

 said, in the preceding article, that it is not 

 possible to line an ordinary forcing pit, and 

 by this it is meant that it is not possible to 

 maintain by means of linings the dung that 

 occupies the lower part of a forcing pit 

 built in the ordinary way that is to say, 

 surrounded by four brick walls and not 

 that it is impossible to construct a forcing 

 pit in such a way that linings may be added, 

 for it is as easy to put linings to a forcing 

 pit as it is to add them to a common hot- 

 bed, but the walls of the pit must be con- 

 structed in such a manner that there may 

 be direct communication between the ex- 

 hausted manure within the pit and the 

 fresh manure that is placed without it in 

 the form of linings. If it be asked if a pit 

 be preferable to a hotbed, the answer is 

 that it is, and further, if the reason be 

 sought, it may be found in the fact that the 

 heat escapes from a pit less quickly than it 

 does from a hotbed, and that a more regular 

 temperature can be sustained in it, which 

 causes all kinds of fruit raised in it to attain 

 greater perfection than it can in the hot- 

 bed. The pit itself is constructed in the 

 same manner as the pit described in the 

 preceding section, above the ground level, 

 hut below this line the walls of the pit it- 



self are built in a different manner, and 

 there are additional brick walls surround- 

 ing it at a little distance from it, which 

 renders a forcing pit with linings a more 

 costly structure than a pit without them. 

 Instead of excavating an area sufficient for 

 the pit itself a very much larger one must 

 be dug out, so that when the walls of the 

 pit are built, as at A, A, there is a wide 

 trench all round it, or in front and at back 

 only, as may be desired. The upper walls 

 of the pit are supported on pillars, which 

 serve as abutments to flattened arches, 

 which also lend their aid to sustain the 

 walls above ground. The pillars are shown 

 at B, B, and the arches at c, c, in the ac- 

 companying illustration, representing part 

 of the end elevation of the pit, as well as a 

 section of it from back to front. The 

 manure is thrown into the pit until it is 

 brought up as far as D, and to prevent un- 

 due escape of heat through the arches it is 

 also desirable to fill up the passage round 

 the pit, shown at E, E, between the pillars 

 and the containing walls at F, F, which 

 form the utmost limits of the pit, with 

 spent manure at first. The top of this 

 passage is covered in with thick boards, G, 

 G, or, if preferred, a wood framing may be 

 put over the top of the opening, to which 

 wooden flaps or doors of thick timber may 

 be attached by hinges, which is a neater 

 method of construction, and decidedly pre- 

 ferable. The trench or passage may be 

 made only in the front and rear of the pit, 

 as it has been said, but it is better carried 

 all lound. When the heat begins to slacken, 

 the spent manure should be taken out of 

 the trench and fresh manure substituted 

 for it. 



Pork. 



This tool is as indispensable as the spade, 

 and even more so, for it is possible to do all 

 the necessary work in a small garden con- 

 taining nothing more than a few borders 



