188 Account of the Culture of Early Melons. 



ten inches) is solid, and is sunk in the earth, the remainder 

 is a flue carried entirely round the pit ; the hollow part of 

 the flue is three inches wide in the clear, and the walls of it 

 are formed of four inch work, that is, of bricks laid flat : the 

 inner wall is well bedded with good mortar, and pointed 

 within and without so perfectly, that the steam of the dung 

 which is introduced into the flue cannot penetrate into the 

 inside of the pit ; the outer wall of the flue is constructed 

 with open brick work, which admits the steam of dung 

 linings into the flue ; the top of the flue is covered with 

 eleven inch tiles, extending over the hollow part, and both 

 the side walls and this are also rendered, by means of mortar, 

 impervious to steam ; the frame is placed on the external 

 wall of the flue, and stands exactly flush with the outer face 

 ofthe brick work. The bottoms of the pits are kept dry by 

 means of drains. 



Previous to working a frame, the hollow inside of the pit, 

 which is nine feet two inches long, by two feet eight inches 

 wide, and four feet deep, is filled with loose tiles, or brick rub- 

 bish, to within eighteen inches of the top ofthe flue ; above 

 this is placed a layer, about a foot thick, of short prepared dung 

 nearly cold, and then another layer of six inches of very rot- 

 ten dung; both of these are well and closely trodden, so as to 

 prevent their sinking afterwards, and over the whole, level 

 with the top of the flue, is placed a floor of coal ashes, laid 

 quite smooth and half an inch thick, which prevents any 

 worms, which may be in the dung, getting through into the 

 mould above it while the frame is in work. 



The compost used by me in growing early Melons is 

 made of three parts of well prepared rich loam, and one part 



