The Garden Under Glass

CHAPTER IV A FORCING HOUSE OR PIT There is another type of house which the amateur might like to erect and a very useful house it would be for many purposes but especially for propagation and for growing cucumbers and melons. These houses are usually sunk in the ground for greater natural warmth ; for obviously they do not catch the wind so much and there is a smaller surface of glass for it to act upon. Moreover, in a forcing house, where a warm and fairly close atmosphere is main-tained, there is not the same need for bottom ventilation as in a general plant house. Such a house as I mean has been illustrated, and for those who have a considerable amount of glass I would advise that they use it merely or mainly for propagation. A propagating frame could be built over the hot-water pipes so as to afford bottom heat, and a handlight or small box propagator could be put on the staging for the propagation of such plants as do not need bottom heat, while the open staging would do well for such cuttings as pelargoniums and coleuses, which do not relish a close atmosphere. But the main purpose of the house under review is for forcing, and if it be so heated with hot-water pipes that heat can be commanded from a night minimum of 50° to 70°, much forcing, forwarding and propagation can be done. During the summer-time, when forcing is not done, it can be utilised for melons and cucumbers, and, if it be kept 27