XIV MODE OF CULTIVATING 



disposed to do so. Allow me to add, that where manure 

 is plentiful, cucumbers and melons can be grown quite 

 as good by the dung system as by hot water ; and where 

 a quantity of manure is required for the use of the 

 kitchen garden, it is a good method of preparing it 

 for that purpose, as also for the growth of mushrooms. 

 The hot water system is by far the cleanest, and much 

 less labour is required in using it than by the dung 

 system. The heat can also be regulated to a greater 

 degree of exactness, especially when strong winds, with 

 rain, prevail, as the fermentation of dung is much 

 affected thereby ; still, when the linings are sunk as 

 advised in my book, a heat sufficiently regular for their 

 well doing can be maintained by proper management and 

 attention. 



All that the gardener or amateur requires of a forcing 

 apparatus, is that by which he can have at his command 

 a sufficiency of top and bottom heat, with moisture. 

 The great desideratum is to have heat where it is 

 required. (There can be nothing worse than an excess 

 of bottom heat without a corresponding top heat, and 

 vice versa}) And to have such an arrangement is by no 

 means difficult. The water, in my opinion, should 

 never be required to be in a boiling state for the obtain- 

 ment of the required temperature ; and this great point 



