Forcing Houses or Pits. — 83 



Economy and absolute safety will always be the weightiest 

 considerations with market gardeners. I think the great merits 

 or advantages of the hot-houses or forcing pits in use, for instance, 

 by my friend, Mr. Theo. F. Baker, of Cumberland County, N. J., 

 and of the similar structure erected by Mr. R. Bingham, of Cam- 

 den, N. J., will be readily appreciated by every reader, and give 

 many of them a clue to the satisfactory solution of the problem : 

 How shall I build a hot-house ? 



The Model Forcing Pit. — A sectional view of the most 

 sensible forcing pit yet constructed is here presented, the great- 

 est difference in outward appearance between it and the cold- 

 house shown on page 68, being in the arrangement of the sashes. 

 In the cold-house, as described, the four tiers of sashes form a 

 single roof and a single building, while the sash arrangement in 



Market Gardener's Forcing Pit — Sectional View. 



our forcing pit divides the house in two sections lengthwise, 

 making, we might say, two parallel buildings of it, the roof of 

 each being formed by two single tiers of sashes. In the former 

 we had a pathway in the centre of house, and an opportunity to 

 walk all over, and work upon the beds. The forcing pit, on the 

 other hand, has two alleys or walks (AA), one under the centre 

 of each roof, dug into the ground 18 inches wide, and 18 inches 

 deep ; and standing in these the operator, reaching over to each 

 side, in same way as in any green-house, manipulates the beds 

 and plants. The sides of the alleys are either walled or boarded 

 up. The beds or " benches," as in the cold-house, are even with 

 the surface of the ground, but the glass is pretty close to them, 

 as the peak of the roofs is only 41^ feet above the level of the 

 ground, and consequently 6 feet from the bottom of the alleys. 

 The sashes should be 7 or 7^ feet long, and of any convenient 

 width, although the common size of hot-bed sash (3 by 6) might 



