e culture. Almost any greenhouse may be made to answer, but the work
can be carried on most successfully and with the greatest economy in
houses which are expressly constructed for Cucumbers. For winter work a
lean-to, facing south, possesses special advantages. But for general
utility, if we had to erect a building on a well-drained soil, it should
be dwarf, sunk three feet in the ground, with brick walls up to the
eaves, and lighted only from the roof. Such a structure is less
influenced by atmospheric changes than a building wholly above ground.
The size, of course, is optional; and quite a small house will supply
an ordinary family with Cucumbers. But a small house is not economical
either in fuel or in labour. A building thirty feet long by twelve feet
wide, six feet high at the sides, and eight and a half feet high at the
ridge, will not only grow Cucumbers and Melons, but will also be of
immense service for many other plants. A division across the middle by a
wall rising four feet, surmounted with a glass screen fitted to the
roof, and finished with a door partially of glass, will greatly augment
its usefulness. There should be an alley down the centre four or five
feet wide, bounded by walls reaching four feet above the floor. These
walls should be nine inches thick for two feet six inches of their
height, but for the upper parts the brickwork need only be four and a
half inches thick. This arrangement will provide a ledge on the inner
side of each wall, and the main walls should also have ledges
corresponding in height, on which to lay slates to carry the soil. To
insure drainage, allow a space of about an inch between the slates, and
place tiles or an inverted turf over every opening to prevent the soil
being washed away. The hot-water pipes will be in chambers immediately
beneath the plants. Openings in the alley walls, fitted with sliding
doors, will admit the heat direct into the house whenever it may be
desirable. Ventilation should be provided for under the ridge at each
end, as well as in the roof. In such a house it is easy to grow
Cucumbers all the year round, except, perhaps, in the dead of winter,
when the short, dark days render the task difficult, no matter how
perfect the appliances at command. The division in the centre will be
found valuable at all times, and especially when one set of plants is
failing; for another set can be brought into bearing exactly when
wanted. But whatever the structure ma