Culture of the Cucumber, 



283 



mass readily finds its 

 way to where it can be- 

 nefit the plants, without 

 being compelled to force 

 through the soil con- 

 taining the roots, at the 

 risk of burning them. 

 As the pipes are pro- 

 posed to be placed with- 

 in 1 few inches of the Fig. 29. Section of Cucumber-Pit, with Air-box. 



extremities, the heat from the linings is sooner felt, and greatly 

 economised, and any impurities that it might contain rendered 

 innoxious by being, as it were, filtered through the pipes. The 

 whole of this applies with equal force to the culture of melons ; 

 but these are more commonly under the care of the profes- 

 sional gardener. 



It must be evident that, by never giving air, a great saving of 

 attendance and materials is effected; as the heat sufficient with 

 a close frame would be inadequate were it opened. As any 

 rank steam or impure air must be fatal when closely confined, 

 it is preferable, as a precaution against this, to have the mate- 

 rials forming the bed thoroughly sweetened, and rather old, 

 depending for heat upon the linings : I have seen no instance of 

 damping with this method, and damp was the only enemy that I 

 apprehended when it was undertaken. Freedom from damp 

 at an early part of the season may in some measure be attri- 

 buted to the pipes, which must tend to qualify damper mate- 

 rials ; and an atmosphere heated by combustion and fermenta- 

 tion is, in my opinion, requisite to grow cucumbers, melons, or 

 any other class of plants, with certainty and economy. Heat 

 produced by fire may be regulated to meet the vicissitudes of 

 the seasons without any waste ; but the climate so formed no 

 attention can render equal to that produced by the decom- 

 position of substances that give out gases teeming with the 

 constituents of plants ; and the facility with which they imbibe 

 gases that so surround them, either to their destruction or 

 benefit, renders this deserving of more attention than is gene- 

 rally bestowed upon it. Still, heat supplied by these alone is 

 not easily economised, as the uncertainty of the weather in so 

 variable a climate as that of Britain makes it necessary to expend 

 a great deal in waste ; as it is evident that a great redundancy 

 must exist in mild or sunny weather, if the same is competent 

 to maintain a sufficient temperature in sudden cases of severity, 

 which often occur without an hour's notice. A bed, previously 

 only warm enough, is sure to chill, perhaps destroy, the plants, 

 during the day or two that must elapse before any fresh appli- 

 ances can take effect; and when they do take effect, the circum- 



