GETTING PLANTS EARLY 67 



covered with white material of similai texture, 

 thus indicating that whitened peach twigs might 

 be expected to absorb much less heat than those 

 that were not whitened." 



THE FORCING OF PLANTS 



There are three general means of forcing plants 

 ahead of their season in the early spring by 

 means of hand boxes and forcing -hills, by cold- 

 frames, and by hotbeds. 



The forcing -hill is an arrangement by means of 

 wliich a single plant or a single hill of plants may 

 be forced where it permanently stands. This type 

 of forcing may be applied to perennial plants, as 

 rhubarb and asparagus, or 

 to annuals, as melons and 

 cucumbers. Fig. 70 illus- 

 trates a common method 

 of hastening the growth 

 of rhubarb in the spring. 

 A box made with four 

 removable sides, two of 

 which are shown in end 

 section in the figure, is 



, , , , . 70. Forcing of rhubarb. 



placed around the plant 



in the fall. The inside of the box is filled with 

 straw or litter, and the outside is banked thor- 

 oughly with any refuse, to prevent the ground from 

 freezing. When it is desired to start the plants, 

 the covering is removed from both the inside and 



