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LXXVI. Descriptian of a Pine-House and Pits. In a Letter 

 to the Secretary. By Charles Holford, Esq.F.H.S. 



Read June 17th, 1823. 



My dear Sir, 



1 reg leave to present to the Society two models of build- 

 ings, which I can, with confidence, recommend as being well 

 adapted to the cultivation of the Pine Apple. The one is of 

 a fruiting house heated by steam, or by a common flue, when 

 the steam apparatus is not in use. It is glazed with crown 

 glass, and the laps puttied. As the frames move on rollers, 

 all the plants are easily accessible, either from the front or the 

 passage at the back. The tan pit being near the glass, the 

 internal space to be warmed is small, in comparison with the 

 dimensions of the house, fifty feet long by thirteen wide. It 

 is therefore heated to any degree of temperature with a very 

 moderate fire, and never requiries matting, or any other pro- 

 tection. The ventilation is very perfect by means of the top 

 sashes, and eight moveable shutters, three feet long by six 

 inches wide, placed at regular intervals in the upper part of 

 the back wall. 



The other model is of two pits for the cultivation of 

 crowns, suckers, and succession plants, without fire heat. 

 They are built in brick work, on MPhail's plan, with 

 pigeon holes, and possess advantages over any other which I 

 have seen, in the following particulars, — being parallel with 

 each other, the dung which is placed between them is suffi- 



