48 CULTURE OP THE ROSE. 



for early forcing. If plants are required during the summer 

 for exhibition, or any other purpose, care must always be 

 taken to harden or ripen their roots, as above, before they 

 are removed from the hot-bed." 



" Forcing " is the very inappropriate name of the process 

 by which roses and other plants are induced to bloom 

 under glass in advance of their natural season. We say 

 that the name is inappropriate, because one of the chief 

 essentials to the success of the process consists in an 

 abstinence from all that is violent or sudden, and in the 

 gentle and graduated application of the stimulus of arti- 

 ficial heat. 



Roses may be forced in the greenhouse, but not to ad- 

 vantage, because the conditions of success will be incon- 

 sistent with the requirements of many of the other plants. 

 The process is best carried on in a small glass structure 

 made for such purposes, and called a " forcing-pit." 



A pit ten or twelve feet long and eight or ten wide will 

 commonly be large enough. It may be of the simplest 

 and cheapest construction. In a dry situation, there is 

 advantage in sinking the lower part of it two or three feet 



