6Gt Tlir rilACTKAL GARDENER. [Fcb, 



upon tlio above wall-phitc, and top of the wall, to both of 

 which they were fixed by a bolt, which was so constructed 

 that they could be removed at pleasure. The upright row of 

 posts, above noticed, was nine feet apart, and the space between 

 the ground and the top of them was left open. In front of 

 this house we sunk a pit, for the linings (tf hot dung or leaves 

 ((he hitter generally used), four feet deep and two in widtli ; 

 this cavity was supported on one side by a nine-inch brick- 

 wall, and covered with wooden shutters to keep in the heat, 

 and so to force both luat and steam tlirough the spaces be- 

 tween the posts which supported the roof. When the dung 

 was past its first strong heat, we drew part of it into the 

 inside, and formed a ridge sufficient to keep up the desired 

 temperature, and by adding fresh leaves or dung could keep 

 up a heat sufficient to ripen grapes by the month of July. 

 The internal space to be heated was so small, that we found it 

 no difiicult matter to keep up a higher temperature than was 

 even required. The back wall of the house, if it may be so 

 called, (but which really was one of the garden-walls, against 

 which the house was erected,) was only nine feet high, which 

 only afforded suflTicient head-room to get in to dress the vines, 

 which were planted, as already observed, upon the back wall, 

 and as the heated dung forming the ridge occupied a consi- 

 deral;lc proportion of the lower angle of the house, a small 

 space consequently was left to be heated. By these means wc 

 enjoyed all the benefits of a huuiid mild heat, so favorable 

 to the vine, as well as producing those gases which are dis- 

 engaged from the dung while undergoing fermentation, and 

 which, though destructive to animal life, are more than pro- 

 bable not uncongenial to that of vegetables. In princi})le, this 

 ditfers very little from the Dutch and Danish practice, but in 

 the convenience and arrangement we consider it superior, as 

 tne dung or leaves are brought into this house, without opening 

 any part of the structure, which, particularly in winter, is at- 

 tended with inconvenience and loss of heat, and there is no 

 waste of the materials used in producing the required heat, by 

 theii being exposed to the changes of the atmosphere. The 

 sashes were all moveable, so that whatever portion of air was 

 required could be admitted, either from the outside or from 



