PREFACE. '^ 



The principal thing which I was taught for 

 my five guineas was to keep down the burning 

 heat of the dung about the roots of the plants by- 

 pouring water into the bed. This I confefs was 

 what I had not been fo v/ell verfed or inftru£ted 

 in before ; it therefore proved ferviceable to 

 me. 



However, although I was well pleafed with 

 my inftrudor, becaufe I thought he kept back 

 no part of his knowledge from me, yet I was 

 by no means fatisfied with the fecret, as it was 

 termed ; for although it was what I was not 

 well fkilled in before, yet the laborious work, 

 continual attention, and great expenfe, were, in 

 no degree, curtailed or leflened, and fuccefs in 

 keeping the plants in a growing ftate during the 

 winter was ftill very precarious : And, indeed, 

 no wonder ; for I believe it would be an over- 

 match for the ingenuity of the greateft of our 

 modern artifans, philofophers, or naturalifts, 

 to find out methods, and give proper directions, 

 for rendering and keeping the air in the frames 

 of a dung-bed fweet, and to put and keep in 

 motion that degree of vegetative power which 

 is neceflary for the growth of a cucumber plant 

 during the winter months, when that grand 

 luminary, the fun, which is one of the principal 

 caufes of vegetation, is by the Maker of all or- 



A 3 dered 



