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useful to the amateur in a small way ; for such can 

 scarcely hope to build pits, and apply hot water for 

 the forcing of Asparagus alone. The little green- 

 house of the owners of small gardens is too fre- 

 quently crowded to suffocation in the months of 

 March and April ; the Fuschias, the Hybrid Roses, 

 the Calceolarias, the Corierarias, the Geraniums, &c., 

 &c., begin to enlarge at that period, and to shoulder 

 each other. A pit, or pits, therefore, that would 

 grow Mushrooms, and force Sea-kale, Asparagus, 

 and Rhubarb, through December, January, and Feb- 

 ruary, might be so planned as to receive the thinnings 

 of the greenhouse in the middle of March, and be 

 made available for store plants, or as a temporary 

 protection to Ericas, or choice New Holland, or other 

 plants, through the summer. We would, therefore, 

 suggest narrow brick pits, built almost entirely below 

 the ground level, with walls, pigeon-holed up to a 

 certain height ; this level kept below the surface of 

 the bed inside. 



A retaining wall for linings would, perhaps, be ne- 

 cessary. These pits need not be more than three feet 

 wide, and, instead of glass, might be fitted with a kind 

 of wooden box, possessing a slanting opaque roof, 

 with hinges made to tilt up at pleasure. By intro- 

 ducing a bottom heat of well-fermented dung, or dung 

 and leaves, in the early part of November, and apply- 

 ing linings, the above roots might be easily forced. 



