DESCRIPTION OF HOTHOUSES. 139 



the bottoms slender, in which case the fruit 

 cannot be expected to arrive to that per- 

 fection and size, as when the plants are strong 

 and robust ; therefore a house about five or six 

 feet high in front, by ten or twelve behind, 

 generally proves more successful for pines, than 

 when they are built much higher. 



When convenient, the building of hothouses 

 should be commenced in the spring, or suffi- 

 ciently early in the summer, to have them com- 

 pleted early in the autumn, that they may be 

 thoroughly dry, well painted, and in good condi- 

 tion to receive the pines. 



Having given the foregoing directions for the 

 formation of hothouses for pines, of a superior 

 class, I will now furnish directions for the con- 

 struction of pits, in which pines are grown in 

 great perfection. 



The pits, if possible, should be erected in 

 a sheltered situation, lengthways from east 

 to west, five or six feet wide or more, the length 

 depending on the quantity of pines intended 

 to be grown, the walls all round the pit to be of 

 solid brick work, raised five or six feet at the 



