bottom heat, is
preferable to the use of fermenting materials; _because the results in
each case, are more perfectly under controul_. Whilst on this part of the
subject, I may be allowed to mention an error which is somewhat prevalent:
We frequently hear of the humid nature of the heat given off by hot water
pipes, in comparison with that derived from such appliances, as a flue; it
is not unfrequently asserted, that the heat thus derived is so moist, so
genial, so peculiarly adapted to plants: there can be no doubt but that
the heat thus obtained is infinitely preferable to that obtained through
the medium of flues, generally speaking; but its superiority consists
rather in its purity, its freeness from noxious gasses, than in its
possessing a greater degree of moisture. Heat--that is--caloric, is the
same, whatever may be the medium by which it may be conducted; and in the
case of hot water pipes, they give off that which has been conducted to
them by the water, directly from the fire, the water acting as a mere
conductor; it is difficult to conceive any thing more thoroughly devoid of
moisture than the heat thus communicated: let any one who doubts this,
place a damp cloth on a series of hot water pipes when in action, and the
result will soon work conviction. With these general remarks, I will
proceed to describe the kind of structure which I regard as being
peculiarly adapted to the growth of Cucumbers; and notice some of the
conditions which it is necessary to keep in view: the engraving on the
next page, represents such a structure.

The aspect of the Cucumber house, should be nearly S.S.E; or in other
words--it should be so regulated between the points south and east, that
whilst the rays of the sun will be admitted as fully and as early as
possible in the morning, there may be no obstruction offered to their more
powerful action as that body approaches the meridian. In the growth of all
tender plants, light and sun heat are required during the winter months as
well as in summer, and there can be no greater error as regards the
erection of structures devoted to such purposes, than to provide for their
admitting the direct rays of the sun in the earlier part of the day, at
the expense of refracting and thereby weakening, to a greater degree than
is really unavoidable, the power of the noon-tide rays of that
invigorating and life-sustaining agent: during the summer months, though
plants then require both light and s