356 Description of a Pit for raising Cucumbers, 



and resting upon a ledge formed for the purpose. By a 

 communication with the fire place, the smoke is turned at 

 pleasure through this flue whenever a damper at the back of 

 the frame is drawn out. The use of this contrivance is to 

 dry up the damp, so often found in forcing beds, at the com- 

 mencement of the season. 



The cost of the whole pit, if new made, would be little 

 more than that of a common pit, and the materials of which 

 it is formed being durable, it is always in readiness for use. 



This pit is admirably calculated for preserving tender 

 plants during the winter, or for forcing Roses, Pinks and any 

 other flowers, when it is not used for Cucumbers. Indeed 

 there seems no reason why Pines might not be fruited in it, 

 by filling the bed with tan sufficiently deep to plunge the 

 pots in. 



The consumption of coals is upon an average half a bushel 

 daily in the coldest weather, and considerably less as the 

 season advances. The loss of water in boiling is about one 

 fourth in twenty-four hours, and is supplied by a pipe from a 

 cistern, or might be filled by hand as occasion may require. 

 The smoke is carried off into an adjoining chimney. 



With the boiler containing, as before stated, forty gallons, 

 I kept two frames in work, the one having four lights, and 

 the other five lights, being together thirty-seven feet long by 

 five feet and a half wide. The boiler might be so placed as 

 to communicate with four frames, if desired. 



