222 YILLA GARDENING part ii 



that Avill force easily may be had. The same treatment will apply 

 to Lily of the Valley, Dielycra spectablis, and the most useful 

 forcing plants. 



Shrubs for Forcing. — Those that have been prepared by 

 special ripening cultiu-e are more easily forced than if only just 

 lifted from the nursery bed and potted a week or two before being 

 placed in heat. There are some exceptions to this rule. The 

 American plants, for instance, being fibrous rooted, can be lifted 

 with balls, and will force very well when lifted from the bed and 

 straightway moved into gentle warmth. The Rhododendron and 

 Azalea, in all their forms, are invaluable for forcing, as are also 

 the Kalmia and Andromeda. Many, I might say most, of the de- 

 ciduous spring-flowering shrubs will bear forcing if the temperature 

 is not too high — not more than 60° at night. The Lilacs, the 

 Thorns, the Deutzias, Forsythias, Labm-nums, Honeysuckles, Tree 

 Paeonies, Mock Orange or Philadelphus, the double-flowering Sloe, 

 Piimus spinosa fl.-pl., flowering Cm'rants (Ribes), Spiraea prunifolia 

 fl-pl., Weigela rosea, and others ; and for foliage the Japanese 

 Maples are equal to many of the stove plants. Tlie Silver-leaved 

 species, Acer Negiuido variegatum, forces very easily, and produces 

 an exceedingly light and j^leasant effect among dark-leaved plants 

 when flowers are scarce. The newer Japanese Maples are also very 

 desirable things to possess for pot culture in the conservatory. 

 The best kind of preparation, if the plants are required for forcing 

 early, is to buy strong young plants, pot them in suitably-sized pots, 

 which will give a fair amount of space for a season's growth, then 

 plunge them out in an open sunny situation, and keep them well 

 supplied with water during the growing season. The next best 

 plan is to plant them in a prepared bed, leaving space between 

 them for the air and light to play freely among the foliage. In any 

 case a mulching of short maniu-e will be serviceable. I do not of 

 course pretend to exhaust this subject. A book might be written 

 upon forcing flowers alone if every detail in connection therewith 

 was examined. Veiy many of our hardy border-flowers will bear 

 heat. The common Primrose forces as well as the best of them, 

 and looks far happier and brighter under glass in January than it 

 does in the open air exposed to the keen blighting blast. Daisies 

 will submit to pot culture, but are impatient of much heat. Violets, 

 everybody knows, will repay protection. In short, any hardy 

 plant which flowers natiu-ally in spring may be potted and brought 

 on gently under glass in a moderately -heated well -ventilated 

 structure. Take the common garden annual (or biennial according 

 to its season of sowing), Borage — what a showy plant it makes in 

 a pot when pushed early into flower ! Solomon's Seal, again, is 



