THE COLD PIT.
Many who have not the advantage of a green-house, wish to preserve over the winter their half-hardy plants which have ornamented their garden during the summer. These are generally consigned to the cellar to dry up and be forgotten. In the darkness they loose their leaves, and when in spring they are again brought to light many are dried up and dead. Properly constructed cold pits offer superior advantages for the protection of many plants of a half-hardy nature, and indeed some that are usually considered tender here find a congenial location. Such a pit should be permanent in its character, and located in a spot easy of access to the house, that it may receive proper attention during the winter. A convenient size, and one sufficient for an ordinary garden would be ten feet long by five wide, varied somewhat from these dimensions to suit size of glass in sashes. The pit should be excavated four feet and a half below the surface, and a hollow wall of brick built up to one foot above the surface. Six inches in depth of coarse gravel should be placed in the bottom on which the pots containing the plants rest. Shelves may be also placed around the sides for the smaller plants. The wall above the ground should be "banked up" to within three inches of the top and sodded.
Fig. 3.—Cold Pit.
Double sashes we have found give great protection and save attention in covering the pit. The bars of these sashes are "rabbited" on both sides and double glazed, thus enclosing a stratum of air affording a good non-conductor of heat from within, or cold from without the pit. The plants when first put in the pit will require to be watered and the sashes opened during the day, until cold weather. But little water is required during winter, as the plants are in a state of rest, and partial dryness at the roots is of advantage. In very severe weather straw mats would be required, but the double glass would keep out 10 to 15 degrees of frost. Some ventilation must be given on mild days when the sun is bright to carry off the dampness, but in dull cold weather all should be kept closed up. Camellias and Azaleas do admirably in such quarters, and can be brought into the dwelling and flowered at any time during the winter. Many plants grow with surprising luxuriance after remaining dormant in such quarters all winter. As the season advances in the spring ventilation must be given during the day, closing the sashes at night until the weather becomes mild when they may be gradually removed altogether.