he obviated by building a double or hollow brick wall. When it is not convenient to build a stone 
or brick wall, or M'here lumber is cheap or easily to be obtained, the walls may be built by taking 
pieces of two-by-four studding and nailing to them on each side rough boards, so as to form a 
double wall of boards with an air chamber (fig. 3.) These may then be 
slipped into their places at the sides and ends of the pit and fastened 
together. The front wall should not rise over six inches above the sur- 
face of the ground, and the rear wall only enough higher to give the sash 
sufficient slope to cany off the water easily. The back side can be banked 
up with earth within a few inches of the upper edge. A pit of small 
size may be made not more than six feet in width and six, nine or twelve 
feet in length, and it may then be covered with common hot-bed sash? 
which are usually made about three feet by six feet. Of course it can be 
made as large as desired, even so large as to require a span roof, which 
may be made stationary or with moveable sash, at one's option. In stormy 
3- weather it is necessary to furnish better protection than that afforded by the 
glass, and this is secured usually by heavy straw matting, and it is well to have narrow board 
shutters that can be handled easily, to cover the glass, and over these the matting is placed. 
The two will secure exemption from frost in 
the worst possible weather. 
The straw mats, which we have referred 
to for covering the pit, are also very useful 
articles for the gardener in shading his forcing 
frames or protecting them from the cold in 
nights of early spring. These mats are easily 
made and one can employ his time upon them 
in vexy cold or stormy weather, when nothing 
can be done to advantage ovttside. In order 
to make a good article and to work to best advantage it is best to employ a frame, such as shown 
in fig. 4. This frame may be made of two pieces of two-by-four stuff for the sides, of the length 
required for the mat, and of two transverse pieces morticed into them at the ends. Four feet 
will be found a very convenient width for the frame. This frame work can rest upon a pair of 
wooden horses, about two feet in height, in which position the labor can be most easily performed. 
In the engraving we have shown only two strings, but a mat of four feet width should have at 
least four strings, which will make the spaces between them about nine and one-half inches in 
width ; closer tying than this even would be preferable. Screws are inserted 
at the proper distances on the cross pieces, to which the strings are attached. 
The straw is placed on the strings so as to have all the butts or lower ends 
come against the sides of the frame, with the tops meeting in the middle, 
and so thin as to have the mat not more than three-quarters of an inch in 
thickness when finished. The stitches should not be more than three-fourths 
of an inch in width. The tieing string should be wound on a reel, and 
FIG. 5. there should be one of them for each stationary string. The method of tie- 
ing is shown in the illustration, fig. 5. Take a little of the straw with the left hand and work 
the reel with the right, first over the straw and then under the stationary string, bringing it back 
between the two strings, pulling tightly and pressing the straw so as to have a flat stitch. In this 
way the work is continued until the mat is finished. During the daytime, except when the 
weather is very severe, the matting and shutters should be removed ^d the plants exposed to the 
full light, and, when the temperature will admit of it, — as it often will at mid-day, even m some 
of the more Northern States, — the sash should be removed partially to allow the moisture to 
evaporate, and thus secure the plants from mildew, which is the result of dampness in a low 
temperature. Great care should be exercised about giving the plants any water, as it is desirable 
to keep them as nearly as possible in a state of rest, and, if it were not for the ventilation, the 
moisture in the pit would be quite sufficient. Pits in different localities will vary considerably in 
this respect, some being much drier than others. Such pits may also be used for germinating seeds, 
striking cuttings, and rearing young plants in the spring and summer, with proper ventilation. 
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