THE ROSE FORCING HOUSE. 93 



convinced that there is already an abundance of these 

 commercial forcing houses for all classes of plants as 

 well as for Roses, which might be my excuse for not 

 giving an illustration of what I consider a useful and 

 economical house for the purpose. If the reader refers 

 to most builders' lists of prices for the erection of such 

 a place, he or she will find that my estimate for the 

 same class of house is fully 50 per cent, below theirs* 

 Considering all the advantages connected with the 

 effectual forcing of very early Roses, there can be 

 no better constructed house than one like the 

 Cucumber house. This is capable of holding a great 

 number of large-sized pots. It is sixty feet long, four- 

 teen feet wide, with other good proportions for trade 

 purposes. The pits c c may either be retained or dis- 

 pensed with, but in my opinion the retention of them, 

 filled with leaves and tan, will be most beneficial in 

 Rose forcing. 



Roses will force without bottom heat very well, 

 but they do much better plunged in fermenting 

 materials where a moist temperature can be maintained. 

 It will be found that under such circumstances a more 

 healthy and robust state of the foliage and flower buds 

 will ensue. This house will hold 500 large Roses in 

 nine-inch pots, and capable of giving at the least twenty- 

 five good cut flowers; that would be 12,500 at say 3s. 

 per dozen \l. 5s. per 100 = 156L 5s. for cut Roses 

 from this house from the month of February till the 

 end of April. They may then all be removed from 

 the house and set outside in a sheltered spot and pro- 

 tected from the cold cutting winds by placing mats 

 over them at night for a week or two. 



Previous to their removal, cool down the tempera- 



