g PREFACE, 



dered for a time to withdraw fome part of hi| 

 frudifying heat from the regions in which we 

 live. 



Having taken thefe matters into mature con- 

 fideration, I reafoned with myfelf in the follow- 

 ing manner ; 



That the cucum.ber plant muft grow natu-? 

 turally, and v/ithout artificial heat, fomewhere. 



That it does not appear to me that there is 

 any internal heat In the earth vv^hich effeds the 

 vegetation of a cucumber plant in its natural 

 climate, but what is raifed by the heat of the 

 fun ; and that, therefore, if the air in the frames 

 could, by any means, be kept up to a proper 

 degree of heat, there would be no occafion for 

 heat underneath the mould in which the plants 



grow. 



That in the common method of cultivating 

 the cucumber plant in the winter and early in 

 the fpring, the great difficulty arifes from the 

 want of heated fweet air, and that in trying to 

 get the air in the frames properly warmed, the 

 roots of the plants are often injured ; and as it 

 is the roots which carry the nourifhment to the 

 plant, if the roots are deftroyed or hurt, the 

 plant, of courfe, muft languilh till it has made 

 frefli roots again^ 



Thcf« 



