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LI. Description of an improved Pit for raising Cucumbers, 

 Melons, and other Vegetables, by the Use of Steam, 

 instead of Stable Dung, &c. By the Rev. William 

 Phelps, A.M. of Mellifont Abbey, near Wells, in So- 

 mersetshire. 



Read February 9th, 1822. 



The great improvement which has taken place in the science 

 of Horticulture during the last fifty years, is evident from 

 a comparison between the system pursued in the times of 

 Bradley, Miller, and other practical writers on the sub- 

 ject, and the present, in which the most delicious fruits and 

 vegetables, natives of even the tropical climates, are now 

 raised in this country by the aid of glass and artificial heat, 

 equal in perfection to their native state, and in many instan- 

 ces far more highly flavoured. 



The cultivation of the Cucumber and Melon has been 

 always considered a test of the gardener's skill, since the pe- 

 culiar delicacy of these fruits, and their extreme tenderness 

 in the early months of the year, require the most unremitting 

 attention ; and as they are principally raised in beds, various 

 have been the plans resorted to, in order to obtain the best 

 material for the supply of heat. Stable dung has been most 

 generally used, and seems to answer the purpose well, but 

 with it, the greatest care is requisite in early forcing, to avoid, 

 in the first instance, the burning of the plants, by the two 

 great fermentation of the dung ; and to keep up, by the aid 



