464 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



ground outside; Jc, brick supports on 

 which the flag tanks rest ; I, drainage and 

 soil for plants; m, brick wall, forming 

 outer edge of bed. 



In this case the bottoms of the tanks 

 are made of pavement, the sides of bricks 

 in cement, and the covering slate cement- 

 ed down. The boiler is placed under 

 the end of the tank, and is 2 feet deep, 

 and 1 foot in diameter. The smoke-flue 

 is carried along under the tanks, and 

 makes two turns along the back wall. 

 One peculiarity in this house is, that 

 parallel with the flow and return tank is 

 a third and broader one, uncovered with 

 soil, for the purpose of giving atmospheric 

 heat, in conjunction with, or independent 

 of, the other two — the regulation being 

 effected by a slider in the end of the third 

 tank. The brick-on-edge wall, to keep up 

 the soil at the front of the bed, is built 

 so that 1-inch spaces are left between 

 the bricks for the better draining of the 

 bed. 



Cucumber-houses and pits have in 

 general had their roofs placed at much 

 too low an angle. The first, we believe, 

 who directed attention to this matter was 

 Mr W. P. Ayres, in his excellent treatise 

 on the cultivation of this plant. " Cu- 

 cumber pits and frames," he observes, 

 " have the sashes generally placed at an 

 angle of 15° or 16°, too low to obtain the 

 full solar power in June, when the sun is 

 at his highest altitude ; 60°, too low for 

 December; and 36°, too low for March 

 and September." Alive to these defects, 

 this intelligent cultivator constructed his 

 house to obtain a maximum of solar 

 influence in mid-winter, at the very 

 period at which, for this purpose, it is 

 most required. " To obtain the perpen- 

 dicular rays of the sun in December, it 

 would be necessary, in latitude 53°, to 

 place the glass at an angle of 75° 28' ; in 

 January, 71° 52'; in February, 62° 29'; 

 and in March, 51° 41'." As the influence 

 of the sun is very slight from the autumnal 

 to the vernal equinox, Mr Ayres prefers 

 securing the perpendicular rays in March 

 and September, and therefore constructs 

 his roof to an angle of 51°. The follow- 

 ing diagram, fig. 657, will show the con- 

 struction of his house : — " a is the tan- 

 bed in which the pots containing the plants 

 are placed ; b is the trellis to which the 

 plants are trained; c is the pathway, 



under which is a flue, with the pipe of an 

 Arnott stove passing through it ; and d is 



the excep- 



tion of Ar- 

 nott's stove, 

 of which, to- 

 gether with 

 all other hot- 

 air stoves, we 

 have a per- 

 fect horror, 

 this is an ex- 

 cellent house 

 for the pur- 

 pose, and if 

 heated with hot water, would be perfection 

 itself. The fig. is taken from Mr Ayres's 

 book, of which every cucumber-grower 

 should be possessed. 



Fig. 658 shows the cross section of the 

 cucumber-house in the royal gardens at 

 Frogmore. In external appearance, if 

 we except the front upright sashes, they 

 somewhat resemble the vineries last 

 erected in the same establishment, fig. 

 427. The internal arrangements, as will 

 be seen by our figure, are different, and 

 exceedingly well adapted for the purpose 

 for which they are intended. The beds 

 of compost in which the plants are set 

 are placed over chambers most efficiently 

 heated by hot-water pipes, having open 

 gutters or troughs cast on their upper 

 sides, by means of which dry or moist 

 heat can be employed when either is 

 thought most desirable. One peculiarity 

 in the manner of arranging the pipes 

 seems to prevail very generally in these 

 gardens — namely, suspending them from 

 above, instead of supporting them from 

 below, as is usually done. This, no 

 doubt, admits of a freer radiation of 

 heat from theii whole surfaces, than if 

 they were supported as in ordinary cases. 

 A passage divides the house into two 

 ranges of borders ; the plants set in the 

 one next the back wall are trained up 

 to about the middle of the back part of 

 the semi-span roof, and thence upwards 

 over the very tasteful iron trussing which 

 ties the front and back parts of the roof 

 together. The plants in the front or 

 principal bed are trained over a semi- 

 circular trellis, and shoots from it may 

 be carried up the iron supports which 



