94 THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



them on that highly useful invention, M'Phail's pits, 

 already glanced at, which has been the cause of 

 considerably lessening that care and anxiety at- 

 tendant on the dung-bed system, and which will be 

 spoken of hereafter : in the interim he has to re- 

 mark, that should it be found necessary to have a 

 second hot-bed for three or more lights at the be- 

 ginning of April, the dung for that purpose ought 

 to be well-worked, in a manner similar to what has 

 been already mentioned. The bed should be about 

 two and a half feet in length, and in every way 

 treated as for the first crop, but with the addition of 

 more air and water. As the season advances, should 

 it so happen (which it frequently does) that the 

 old plants continue in health, they may be consider- 

 ably improved, both in vine and fruit, by thinning 

 and cutting back to healthy laterals, giving the sur- 

 face of the bed a top dressing of the richest mould 

 and frequent sprinklings of water, keeping the frame 

 closed, as but little air will be necessary, except in 

 the hottest part of the day, &c. With this treat- 

 ment the plants, by frequent sloping, may be kept 

 in a bearing state until the principal and very essen- 

 tial crop comes in under hand-glasses, which the 

 author has had fine by the middle of May. 



Leaving the further cultivation of the cucumber 

 on dung hot-beds for the present, the writer has to 

 observe, that as the construction of such a pit as 

 the one recommended may not be familiar to many 

 readers of this work, the following outline for a 

 three-light frame will be a sufficient guide, and will 

 enable any person to comprehend the whole, and 

 more particularly the builders in the neighbourhood. 



