THE FORCING GROUND. 79 



let off the air as fast as it was heated ; and the rapidity of the 

 circulation actually kept some of the leaves of the plants in 

 motion. Among details, we may mention, that if fresh air 

 was required in the house, apertures could be opened to admit 

 it under the pipes, that it might bo heated as it passed. The 

 principle can be used in a pit, as well as in a stove ; but it 

 answers no purpose for any houses that are not kept tolerably 

 hot. It is of no use in greenhouses ; for, as we never heat 

 them at all, if we can help it, and there is no circulation 

 created without, the whole extra expense would be lost. 



The most economical mode of forcing, upon the whole, is a 

 judicious application of hot water ; whether apjDlied by tank 

 or pipes, it requires less attention than any other mode. For 

 grapes and pines in the same house, nothing, perhaps, is more 

 general than a good tan-pit in the middle of the house, and 

 hot-water-pipes, in less quantity than would otherwise be re- 

 quired, along the lowest part of the house. 



The forcing-ground should contain sufficient building to do 

 all the work required. No place should be crowded. A peach 

 and nectarine house should be required to do nothing else. 

 Many excellent gardeners will have nothing of any conse- 

 quence with their vines, although for the most part they 

 occupy the roof only. Where there are pines, the vines 

 should only occupy the rafters, so that the sun may not be 

 taken from the pines. Melon frames or pits, and the same 

 for cucumbers, may be constructed on fifty dilferent plans, 

 and heated by half as many ; but the good gardener shows 

 his skill by the simple means which he requires, and the 

 ability to accomplish Ms object at the least expense. 



Forcing Pits. — It is not uncommon in gentlemen's estab- 

 lishments to find every variety of costly erections, all man- 

 ner of whimsical constructions, adopted for the purposes of 

 forcing ; and it is creditable to the profession that we may at 

 the same time find a man capable of competing, in every 

 respect, with the most fortunate of these well-appointed 

 places, with nothing but a common dung-bed for his cucum- 

 bers and melons, an old-fiishioned brick flue for his pines, 

 grapes, peach-houses, and even cherries in pots. We are 

 perfectly aware that certain plans save a good deal of trouble 

 and anxiety ; and, as such, recommend everybody who can 

 afford it to have convenient erections and hot- water apparatus ; 

 the most simple, the most economical and effective of which 



