11 



which they could never arrive. The agents which an 

 enlightened age has hrought under controul, are indeed 

 powerful engines, which require much skill in their adap- 

 tation and management ; hut the knowledge necessary to 

 effect this, is so firmly and inseparably connected with the 

 first principles of cultivation, that an acquaintance with 

 these, will at all times supply a safe and unerring guide 

 to their application. 



It is to assist the young gardener in this application 

 of principles, to the growth of the Cucumber in the win- 

 ter season, that these pages are designed ; and of those 

 who may differ from the opinions which are here expressed, 

 it is only required that they should receive a calm and 

 deliberate consideration a consideration unbiassed by 

 prejudice, and unmixed with any of that feverish excite- 

 ment after novelties, which with gardeners, as well as with 

 all other classes of society, is becoming far too preva- 

 lent, and intense. 



CHAP. II. 



ON THE STRUCTURES ADAPTED FOR THE 

 GROWTH OF CUCUMBERS. 



I will preface the following remarks on the structures 

 adapted for the growth of Cucumbers, by stating, that a 

 forcing house, a pit, and a common frame, present the 

 means of bringing this fruit to its perfection, equally, one 

 with the other, provided that a course of cultivation suit- 

 able to the structure, is followed out; the comparative 

 merits of each, depend not so much on the nature of the 

 results which may be obtained by adopting them, as on the 

 facilities they afford for the attainment of those results. 



