Separate Accounts have not been published. 493 



Mr. John Mearns, gardener to William Hanbury, 

 Esq. at Shobden Court, near Leominster, communicated to 

 the Meeting on the 18th of December, a description of a 

 Pit for growing Early Cucumbers, which was erected by him 

 some time since, and which, from experience, he has found 

 to possess considerable advantages. The annexed section 

 will explain the principle upon which it was constructed. 



hm 7 i 2 - f f r f r f r 



a. a. are the walls of the pit in open brick work ; b. b. b. the 

 cavity under the bed into which the steam from the dung 

 linings is admitted ; c. c. are posts of iron or stone support- 

 ing a bed or trough, d. made of slate, stone, or tiles, extend- 

 ing the whole length of the pit ; e. e. are slabs of stone, slate, 

 tiles, or oak, closing the top of the cavity ; the slabs in both 

 these cases are so closed or luted together, that no rank 

 steam may escape through them, but the heat from the cavity 

 is admitted more freely in the early part of the season, to 

 heat the internal air in the frame, because the slabs at e. e. 



