CONSERVATIVE PITS. 



473 



of air. These openings should be 6 feet 

 apart, and about 18 inches by 9 inches in 

 the clear, and be furnished with doors to 

 open and shut for the admission of air. 

 The sashes are to run on rafters for the 

 purpose of being taken off to facilitate 

 the putting in and taking out the plants. 

 During winter, such pits ought to be 

 carefully covered with waterproof canvass. 

 If this is mounted on long rollers, it can 

 be let down and drawn up with little 

 trouble or loss of time ; and if fixed to the 

 ridge along one side, and to the roller on 

 the other, it will require little further 

 fastening, down, as the weight of the 

 roller will keep it in its place. 



Cold pits for preserving vegetables during 

 winter. — These are of great use in every 

 garden, and, indeed, in most nurseries. 

 They were brought into notice some 

 years ago by the late Mr Stewart of Val- 

 leyfield, and an account of them pub- 

 lished in "The Transactions of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society," from which our next 

 figure is taken. They may be built of 

 turf, bricks, or stone ; if of the first mate- 

 rial, where much turf is used for potting, 

 and where exposure to the weather for a 

 while is deemed necessary, the fresh turf 

 taken early in autumn may be employed 

 for the walls, and used during the follow- 

 ing summer for potting or other purposes. 

 On the walls, of whatever material, wall- 

 plates rough from the saw should be 

 used, and rafters dividing the whole into 

 spaces 4 or 5 feet wide. Mr Stewart's 

 pit was without these, as will be seen by 

 fig. 676, which shows the pit opened up 



Fig. 676. 



and covered with thin boarding in such 

 lengths as to be conveniently lifted and 

 propped up. From this it will be seen that 

 the rain or snow is thrown to the back, 

 keeping the interior of the pit dry — a 

 most important point in wintering tender 

 vegetables. 



The span-roofed vegetable pit, fig. 677, is 

 an improvement on the last. It consists 



VOL. I. 



of a permanent roof of straw, heath, or 

 reeds, supported on larch posts 2 feet 



Fig. 677. 



high from the ground and 6 feet asunder. 

 To the wall-plate that supports the roof 

 the sides of boarding are hinged, and let 

 down to exclude the frost, and opened 

 both at back and front when ventilation 

 is required, and when the weather is 

 mild. The advantages of such a pit con- 

 sist in the vegetables being kept perfectly 

 dry, from the roof never being opened, 

 and also in the freedom by which air and 

 light can at all times be admitted by 

 opening the sides. Such pits may be 

 12 feet wide, with a passage up the 

 centre, and a bed of dry earth or sand 

 made along both sides, into which the 

 vegetables, when full grown in autumn, 

 are to be planted. The entrance being 

 at the two ends, free access can be got to 

 the pit for the purpose of filling it, clear- 

 ing away any decayed leaves, and also 

 for gathering and examining the state of 

 the contents. The situation for such a 

 pit may be in any out of the way place, 

 provided it is perfectly dry, and not 

 under the shade of trees. During sum- 

 mer it may be used as a mushroom- 

 house, and also for retarding crops of 

 cauliflower, &c, that may be coming on 

 too fast. We scarcely know of a more 

 useful appendage to a garden than such a 

 house would be. If carried to a greater 

 height than here represented, one or 

 more courses of strong shelving might be 

 erected, and thus afford greater accommo- 

 dation at little extra expense. 



The span-roofed conservative pit, fig. 678, 

 is for protecting small plants from heavy 

 rains during summer, and will be found 



Fig. 678. 





b 





Illilll 







of great use in extensive nursery estab- 

 lishments. The framework is permanent, 

 the sides being formed of long narrow 



3 o 



