20 THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR, 



eminent Scotch gardener, who treats of it fully in 

 his work called " The Scotch Forcing Gardener." 

 If the pits are from twenty to thirty feet long, 

 it will be sufficient to plant one half at a time ; 

 and, to keep a constant succession^ the other half 

 may be filled in about fifteen or twenty days after- 

 wards, that they may begin to come up before the 

 first is used ; after which, once every month or six 

 weeks, according to the size of the pit and con- 

 sumption of the family, may be sufficient till the 

 time for cutting in the open ground commences. 

 The roots are planted in the same manner, and 

 require the same treatment, as on the dung hot- 

 bed, only, instead of dung, bark is usually sub- 

 stituted to fill the pits. Air must be admitted 

 every day, to allow the steam to pass off; and more 

 freely, as the weather will permit, when the buds 

 begin to appear, for the sake of the colour and 

 flavour of the plants. The heat of the feed can be 

 much better regulated by this kind of pit, and all 

 the work done with much greater nicety and less 

 toil to the gardener than by the old and common 

 method of dung hot-beds. 



3. BASIL. OCYMUM. 



This plant is supposed to owe its Latin name to 

 the strong scent for which several species of this 

 genus are remarkable. Some derive it, with great 

 probability, from a Greek word signifying quickly, 

 with reference to the rapid germination and growth 

 of the plant after the seed is sown, especially if the 

 weather is hot and dry. They are, for the most 



