THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
37 
The wall-plate should he nine inches in width, and two inches 
thick, and be fixed to the uprights by means of long screws. 
The turfs must be cut twelve inches long, nine inches wide, and 
three inches thick, and in building the wall they must be 
packed as firmly as possible. The rafters, which must be 
similar to those of the brick pit, should be fixed to the plate 
immediately over the uprights. 
The lean-to and span-roof brick pits of dimensions given 
above have been designed expressly for dwarf growing plants 
in pots ; but, if they will be required for cucumbers or melons 
during the summer, they must be twelve inches deeper at the 
back and front. The increased height may be obtained by 
sinking the floor of the pit twelve inches below the ground 
level, and this course can be strongly recommended excepting 
when the soil is naturally cold and wet. There will be no 
saving in brickwork, because the wall must be of precisely the 
same height, and the gain of having the floor below the level 
consists in the greater facility with which the frost can be kept 
out in the winter, and in the neater appearance of the pits. 
Most useful and comparatively cheap span-roof pits may be 
made with wooden sides instead of brick walls. Deals of good 
quality and nine by three inches are most suitable for the 
formation of the walls, as they are strong, do not warp, and 
are most effectual in keeping out the cold. Boards one inch 
thick are most generally employed for making sides to frames, 
but, unless they have tie pieces about five feet apart, they soon 
become twisted and crooked. But the three inch deals make 
the most substantial walls, and last a long time, provided they 
are properly painted at intervals. 
Nothing has been said about the length of the pits, because 
that must be regulated by the accommodation required and 
the space available. As an indication of the space required 
for the accommodation of a given number of plants, it may 
be said that fifty plants in three-inch pots may be arranged in 
a square yard without overcrowding. Those in larger pots 
will of course require space in proportion ; and it will be most 
easy to determine the space required for any given number 
according to the size of the pots. In making calculations, it 
will be needful to take the measurement of the pots from the 
outside of the rim, and also to take into consideration the 
character of the growth of the plants it is intended chiefly to 
cultivate. 
