266 



THE COLD PIT. 



roof is the patent tan-ed paper or felt, Dutch reeu mats, or straw mats, all 

 of which not only resist the cold, but carry off the water that falls on 

 them. During the most intense frost a covering of fine meadow hay, 

 dried fern, or wheat straw, may be laid upon the glass, and over that 

 either of the above coverings that may be most conveniently procured. 

 Common bass mats may be used, but they are inferior to either of the 

 above, both in durability, economy, and in the capability of throwing off 

 the water. 



The annexed pit is an improvement on the Cold Pit in general use, and 

 consists of walls built hollow, which are well known to resist cold better 

 than sohd walls of the same thickness. The plants are set on a boarded floor, 

 with sufficient apertures to admit of the superfluous water passing through 



and falling into the empty space under them. A circulation of air is kept up 

 by opening the Tentilators a a, which, passing through the empty space 

 h, and up through the flooring and amongst the plants, is beneficial to 

 them, and prevents damp from accumulating in the bottom of the pit. 

 Such a pit as this, one hundred feet in length and six or seven feet wide, 

 would contain a fine collection of plants, and might be divided into four 

 or five compartments by party walls, or by moveable wooden partitions, 

 as in the ground plan, and an arrangement followed somewhat similar to 

 that recommended in the foregoing pages. To render such a pit com- 

 plete, a two or three inch pipe might be made to circulate round it under 

 the platform, to be heated by hot water from a small boiler placed at th« 



