THE MELONRY. 



381 



a section, is partly above and partly below ground. The 

 front and back walls, a a, are of brick, supported on 

 piers or stone pillars ; h h are spaces inclosed witbin 

 outer walls, and covered with boards to contain linings, 

 which communicate, without, any object intervening, 

 with the fermenting substances in the interior of the pit. 

 These spaces may be two feet wide : the interior pit 

 should seldom be more than six feet in breadth. A 

 principal quality of this structure is its neatness and 

 cleanliness. Caled.- Hortic, Mem.^ vol. ii., p. 217. 



West's Melon and Cucumber Pit is .also built of brick. 

 It has in this- figure a chamber a to contain the dung ; 



Fia;. 48. 



h, a sq.uare opening by which the dung is introduced ; 

 c, rafters of wood or cast-iron, sustaining the interior 

 soil; d d, openings to permit the ascent of steam. The 

 walls are nine inches thick, and the pit may be seven 

 feet wide inside measure. Lond, Sort, Trans.^ vol. iv., 

 p. 220. 



Atkinson's Melon Pit, as given on next page, is a brick 

 structure. The back wall a and the end wall are four 

 inches thick, built in the pigeon-hole fashion, that is, with 

 square interstices between the bricks. The front wall 

 h is double ; the interior portion is brick in bed, the ex- 

 terior brick on edge, with piers under each rafter. The 

 included space communicates with the inside of the 

 33 



