THE FORCIXG GROUND. 83 



and glasses, for there are few things that may not be forced by 

 such means, and they may always be increased by adding them 

 when the demand for an}i;hing justifies it. Stoves, pineries, 

 forcing-pits, &c., should be for the winter months, seventy to 

 seventy-five degrees by day, sixty to sixty-five degrees by 

 night ; for the summer, eighty-five to ninety degrees by day, 

 and sixty-five to seventy degrees by night. 



Tanner's Bark. — One of the most useful materials in the 

 forcing-ground. Pits are filled with it to produce a genial 

 bottom heat, and pine-apples are rarely groAvn without it. 

 There is no material that holds a moderate warmth so long, 

 and M^hen it has rotted it is a good fertilizer of the ground. 

 As a proof that it is highly nourishing, if a plant be plunged 

 in it and the roots get through the bottom of the pot, the 

 plant — it matters not what plant — grows more vigorously than 

 ever, and the more decayed the tan may be, the more robust 

 the growth. We have had cucumbers plunged in tan to grow 

 on the roof of the hot-house, and have calculated on renew- 

 ing the plants as the old ones get lazy, but all at once they have 

 become stronger, put out new shoots, and gone on till the end of 

 the season, when we were obliged to change the tan, and found 

 the roots of the cucmnber rambling among it in all directions. 

 PassiJloraBonapartia and other flowers have exhibited the same 

 propensity for luxuriating in the decayed bark, and on one 

 occasion we put in the proportion of nine barrows to a bed 

 four feet wide and thirty-six feet long, spreading it equally 

 and digging it in, and the same of dung from an old melon 

 bed. Half a dozen beds were done each way. We think those 

 mth the dung had the advantage the first season, if there 

 was a difierence ; but the second, those dressed with the tan 

 far outdid the others, and there was a bed each of half a 

 dozen subjects, and a fair trial. After the first year the tan 

 had it, and we could come to no other conclusion than that 

 the decayed tan was a first-rate dressing for flowers. The pits 

 made within houses should be as much higher behind than 

 they are in front as the roof is ; in other words, it should be 

 the same slope as the glass, that things may be at the same 

 distance, whether they are plunged in the front or at the back. 

 For convenience the pit should be so built that there shall be 

 room to go round it ; and that it may be as large as the house 

 will admit, the path should not be more than eighteen inches 

 to two feet wide. The pit is merely a receptacle to hold tlio 



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