8 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October C. 
endeavour to meet as many wants as possible, by an¬ 
swers to the following questions. 
1st. “ How am I to proceed ? I want a small brick 
pit to keep cuttings, bedding plants, &c., over the 
winter. I can have no artificial heat. I am told by 
one, that the deeper 1 go, the warmer my pit will be; 
by another, that the less I sink, the more secure the 
plants will be. Is there not something contradictory in 
all this?” Not at all. Mere warmth and security, as 
respects vegetable life, are not identical. The same may 
be said of animal existence. A man may be frozen to 
death in a cold night; he may, also, be smothered in a 
close room, or wrapped in warm blankets. A house 
underground, in winter, would be warmer than one above 
it, just because the radiating heat surface would be 
lessened, and because, at that time, there is more radia¬ 
tion than absorption. A pit, or plant house, partially 
sunk underground, is warmer than one of the same 
depth wholly above it, because less of the walls are 
exposed to the atmosphere. Of course, the radiation 
from the glass will be the same in both cases. Such 
a pit, on the other hand, will be cooler in summer. 
But, even the warmth in winter will not be in propor¬ 
tion to the depth of wall sunk, unless means are taken 
to keep the ground outside the pit dry and free from 
frost; the first, by concreting or tarring; the second, 
by loose litter in cold weather. With such remedies, 
and the ground sloping from the wall all round, warmth 
and security may be obtained after the walls are 
thoroughly dried. The danger in all such pits in winter, 
is from the close, muggy atmosphere that accumulates 
at their bottom ; the fertile source of all fungus broods, 
termed damping; and the very sinking beneath the 
surface makes it difficult to dislodge this stagnant air 
by one more rarified and pure. The higher forms of 
life, whether vegetable or animal, unless when in a 
torpid state, must have access to light, and a pure 
atmosphere. Now, by sacrificing a little of this muggy 
warmth, these necessary conditions to health will be 
best secured by a pit above ground, the surface of the 
bed within being a little higher than the surrounding 
ground, and that made to slope from the walls, so as to 
throw off all wet. If there are ventilators in front, on 
a level with the bottom of the pit, they will be more 
effectual in dislodging damps than any mere opening 
of the sashes. With such ventilators open, and the 
sashes tilted behind, a draught of air is secured to the 
bottom even of the cutting-pots. Such a pit, for small 
plants and cutting-pots, may be from five to five-and-a- 
half feet wide, from eight to twelve inches high in front, 
and thirty to thirty-six behind. If the ground outside 
is banked up within a few inches of the front wall-plate, 
and then well tarred and gravelled, no spouting will be 
necessary, and no wot will penetrate. In winter, great 
care should be taken in using any fermenting material 
round the walls. I greatly prefer, for the ends and 
back of such a pit, a thickness of two or three inches of 
dry straw, firmly secured by cords. In such a shallow 
pit, great care, however, must be taken to guard against 
sudden frosts, and against uncovering too rapidly when 
fine weather comes. 
In a frosty morning, after a mild night, I have had 
young plants, stiff as pokers, at twelve inches from the 
glass, while those at eighteen inches distant were not at 
all affected. Covering up until completely thawed was 
the remedy in all such cases. Old readers will be well 
aware that the plants usually kept in such pits will 
receive no harm, though covered up in bad weather for 
some time, day and night, provided the internal atmo¬ 
sphere is rather dry, ami frost has been excluded; but 
yet, the temperature so nearly approaching the freezing 
point, that vegetation, so far us extension was concerned, 
was at a stand still. The modes and principles of pro¬ 
tection have already been fully discussed. 
2nd. “ I contemplate building a brick pit, in preference 
to having wooden boxes. I cannot heat it artificially 
with fire heat. I want it for many purposes, as I can 
only have one; such as keeping cuttings and small 
plants of half-hardy plants over the winter ; propagating 
by means of dung-and-leaves-heat in spring; starting 
and growing fair-sized Fuchsias in March and April; 
and using it for Melons and Cucumbers in summer, &c. 
1 propose to have it six feet wide, front wall three-and- 
a-half feet in height, back wall six feet, and fully half 
of these heights under the surface. Can I, by any simple 
process, make one pit, say eight or nine lights in 
length, answer all these purposes, either at the same 
time, or in rotation?” By exercising a little judgment, 
there will be no difficulty in the matter. By means of 
moveable wooden partitions, made of light half-inch 
wood, to fix under the rafters, I have had, in such a 
sized pit, four or five divisions, differing in temperature 
and the amount of atmospheric moisture. When one 
end has been used as a hotbed, the other end has been 
as cool as possible by the free admission of air. Such 
half-hardy plants as you speak of, however, especially 
when in a young state, must be tolerably near the glass 
in winter. This you can easily provide for when building 
your pit. For instance, at the height of two feet from 
the set off above the foundation, in building your nine- 
iuch wall leave a row of bricks all round, back and 
front, jutting out beyond the perpendicular inside, from 
three-quarters to a full inch, and do the same again 
when the fruit wall is from eight to twelve inches from 
its proposed height. These ledges will hold securely 
any strong boards, half-an-inch shorter than the width 
of the pit, so as to make a platform nearer the glass. 
By this means, being able to make a higher or lower 
platform at pleasure, you will be able to accommodate 
three different sizes of plants at will, just by putting on, 
or taking out these boards. Besides, we find that 
many of our friends, when once they get a pit of this 
kind, must needs have a small stage near the house, in 
which to place some of their favourite plants in summer. 
Now, supposing that this stage was to be formed, how 
easy to make it a little less in width than the width of 
the pit, and with the hypothenuse line of the shelves, 
proportioned to the slope of the rafter. If the stage was 
very low, it could be raised on blocks to the suitable 
height. Standing on these transverse boards, or on the 
shelves of this stage, small plants and rooted cuttings 
would be safer from damp, and from sudden alterations 
in the weather, than when standing upon the bottom of 
a shallow pit. 
Such a stage, however long, should be made in lengths 
of one, two, or more lights, so as to be easily moved. 
A friend, who had such a stage made in a rough, but 
useful manner, which he used for various purposes in 
summer, instead of using it for his cuttings in a some¬ 
what similar pit last winter, preferred placing them 
pretty near the glass, on the top of soil in which cucum¬ 
bers had been growing, there being a fair portion of 
rotten decomposing manure beneath. What with damps 
and sudden frosts, the spring saw little but a perfect 
wreck. The initiated keep myriads of plants in such 
circumstances, but they know the care that is requisite. 
What with the watering, however carefully given, that 
finds its way into the soil (unless every plant is lifted 
out, when watered, and allowed to drain before it is 
replaced—a capital plan where there is no fire-heat in 
winter), and the vapours intensely rising from the de¬ 
composing manure, the plants are pretty well as liable 
to damps as they would be on the bottom of a sunk pit, 
while their raised position, under these circumstances, 
confers all the disadvantages of sudden changes, which 
a shallow pit, built wholly above ground would yield, 
without the compensation of secured dryness. On such 
an open platform of boards, or a still opener stage, with 
