CULTURE OF THE CUCUMBER IN PITS. 



505 



856, is taken, also says Corbett's mode is " the most economical plan of 

 heating yet discovered, and deserving the support of every one interested in 

 horticulture, especially the cucumber grower." 



" The troughs," Mr. Duncan observes, "are arranged so as to produce both 

 bottom and top heat, accompanied with proper moisture, or a dry air at 

 pleasure, by putting on the covers to the troughs. The air in the confined 

 chamber under the bed is always at the point of saturation, and a circulatory 

 movement of the air of the pit, exterior to the chamber, is always main- 

 tained by drains, passing from the front path, under the troughs in the 

 chamber, to the troughs in the back path, at the bottom of the back wall, 

 as shown in the section." (Cucumber Culture, p. 22.) The soil Mr. 

 Duncan recommends is vegetable mould during winter, with a mixture of 

 maiden loam during summer. 



1075. Greens cucumber pit, and also one in use at Mawley Hall, described 

 in the Gardeners Magazine for 1841, p. 262, are both heated by hot-water, 

 with some of the pipes laid in troughs of water, and may be safely recom- 

 mended as far superior to any modification of hot-water pits, unless we 

 except Mr. Corbett's. Mr. Green's pit is thus described by himself: — " The 

 walls are built of 9 inch brickwork, 5 feet high in the back, and 2 J feet in 

 front, and the space enclosed is 5 feet wide in the clear, and 36 feet long, 

 covered with nine lights, and divided into three compartments. A trough of 

 brickwork is carried along the middle of the bottom from end to end. This 

 trough is constructed by first laying a bottom of two bricks thick, one foot 

 wide, and then forming the two sides of the trough with bricks on edge ; the 

 whole being so cemented as to hold water. The pit is heated with hot 

 water by means of a branch of 2^ inch pipes proceeding from the boiler 

 which heats a stove at a short distance. The hot water flows along the 

 back and front of the pit, above the level of the bed of soil, but the return 

 pipes are placed beneath the bed in the trough just described, which is filled 

 with water, or partly so, as circumstances may require, by means of a small 

 pipe that leads to the outside. Another small pipe is laid in the bottom of 

 the trough for letting off the stagnant water, and for emptying the trough 

 occasionally ; for in very dark damp weather, a drier heat is required. 

 The soil that I grow my plants in is collected at least six months before it 

 is wanted for use, and consists of turf not more than 3 inches thick, of strong 

 maiden loam, built up in narrow ridges, with a layer alternately of an 

 equal quantity of fresh horse-dung, and a good portion of straw. When 

 wanted for use it is chopped up with a spade, is not sifted, and one-third of 

 well decayed leaf-mould is added. In order to have a succession of fruit, it 

 is requisite to sow the seed at three different times, the 1st and 20th of 

 September, and the 5th of November. The first and second sowing I fruit 

 in No. 2 pots, and the third I plant out. Before placing the plants in the 

 fruiting pots, I first put a quantity of large potsherds at the bottom, with some 

 large pieces of turf and dung, in order to insure a good drainage. The plants 

 are placed sufficiently deep to leave three or four inches at the top of the pot, 

 so that the plants may be earthed up as they advance in growth. When the 

 pots are filled with roots, a good supply of water is given of the same tem- 

 perature as that of the air they are grown in. I place one plant in the 

 centre of each light, taking care that the bottom of each pot is about four 

 inches above the water in the trough and the return pipe. The branches 

 are trained on a temporary trellis, and the fruit is allowed to hang down. 



