Xii PREFACE. 



has perused that work, that the plan was 

 adopted merely through deficiency of know- 

 ledge in the proper management of the dung 

 bed ; for Mr. M c Phail asserts, that upon first 

 attempting to produce early cucumbers in Lord 

 Hawkesbury's garden, he completely failed, and 

 was, in consequence, induced to apply to some 

 horticulturist in the neighbourhood, to whom 

 he paid a gratuity of five guineas for his 

 instruction. The principal thing he appears to 

 have been taught, was to keep the burning heat 

 of the dung about the roots of the plants down 

 by the continual application of water into the 

 bed ; which, however, he found insufficient to 

 preserve them in a thriving state, throughout the 

 winter months. This caused him to assert that 

 it was out of the power of any person to keep a 

 dung bed sweet, and consequently impracticable 

 to rear them at that time of the year. To this 

 I have only to observe, that the following 



