THE FORCING HOUSE. 141 
It is necessary before anything is brought into heat 
that it should be well established in the pots; for, if 
not well rooted before it is introduced into a strong 
heat, the flowers will suffer, and the plant will fail. 
For instance, if a Rose is taken up from the ground in 
November, and ever so carefully potted, and introduced 
into heat in December, flowers will come upon the 
plant, but they will be poor, and the plant will pro- 
bably die in the end. But if a Rose is thoroughly 
established in the pot fully six months, or, say, from 
the spring preceding the winter when it is put into 
heat, fine flowers and a good healthy plant will be the 
result. So it is with all flowering shrubs, except such 
as the hardy Azaleas, Rhododendrons, &c., and some of 
the herbaceous plants; but then even these should be 
taken up from the ground with good balls of earth, and 
carefully potted some weeks previous to forcing. The 
Narcissus will force moderately by planting the bulbs 
in the pots, and then introducing them into heat; but 
they will do much better if treated after the manner of 
Hyacinths; that is, pot them and plunge them into 
cinder ash, sawdust, or some such thing, five or six 
weeks before they are put into heat. No potted flower- 
ing plants of a strong feeding nature should be shifted 
immediately before putting them in heat. 
All well-established plants will be benefited by 
weekly applications of liquid manure after they begin 
to show flower buds. Too much heat immediately after 
plants are introduced into a forcing house is not good; 
those recently introduced should at first be placed at the 
coldest part for a few days ora week. As much light 
as it is possible to get should be admitted into al! forcing 
houses where there are flowering plants, especially for 
