THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 355 



give a liberal shift and otherwise treat them during the summer, as 

 recommended for last season. If the plants are intended for bloom- 

 ng the following season, however, they should not be stopped pro- 

 miscuously till late m the autumn, for this would probably cause 

 them to bloom irregularly and sparingly, but they should rather be 

 stopped all over about the middle of August, so as to secure their 

 breaking evenly, and having shoots of about equal strenath before 

 winter. And in this case they should occupy a cool, airy part of 

 the greenhouse until they can be removed to a cold frame, or pit 

 or until after they have done flowering, for there will be nothing 

 gained by exciting plants intended for dowering too early in sprin<? 

 Ihey should occupy a cool, shady part of the greenhouse while in 

 bloom, and after the beauty of the flowers is over, cut the shoots 

 back sufficiently to secure a bushy, close growth; also attend to 

 shitting, as may be necessary to afford sufficient space for th 3 roots 

 and keep the specimens cool, affording them a moist atmosphere 

 until they start into growth, and during the growing season. 



PROTECTION OP FORCING; PITS AND PLANT FRAMES. 



|HE object for which protecting materials of all kinds is 

 used is vulgarly to keep out cold, philosophically to pre- 

 vent the escape of heat ; and hence that which with the 

 least expenditure of money and time best secures the 

 object in view must be the best to adopt. The market 

 gardeners round London use principally long litter, and they prepare 

 it through the summer by taking the longest straw from the duno- 

 as it is brought from the stables, and this, when it is well shaken out 

 and dried, is formed into a stack contiguous to the frame ground 

 ready for its winter's use. This is simply thrown over the frames to 

 the thickness of four, six, or twelve inches, according to the severity 

 of the weather, and answers very well. But it is untidy for a gentle- 

 man's garden, and moreover makes the glass very dirty, depriving 

 the plants of much light, and rendering a great loss of labour 

 necessary in washing the frames ; and also much breakage. It is, 

 however, very surprising how little attention some of the best 

 market growers seem to pay to the importance of light ; you may 

 go into their forcing ground in the dark months of winter, when 

 they are forcing cucumbers and other early crops, but you mi<*ht as 

 well try to look through a fourteen-inch wall, as to discover the 

 contents of the frames through the glass ; yet how astonishing is 

 their success ! Wood shutters and thatched hurdles have been used 

 since the days of Abercrombie ; but if they are durable, they must 

 be awkward and clumsy ; and if they are not durable, they become 

 expensive. They have also another and still worse objection which 

 is, that if not very carefully handled they rub the paiut off the 

 sashes. Mats, if they are good, so long as they remain in that 

 condition, are a very effective protection; but thin, hard common 

 mats, as too many of them have been of late years, are dear at any 



December. 



