358 FORCING GARDEN. 



most absurd practices have been resorted to in order ta 

 force the plants into fruit. We pretend not to give a the- 

 ory ; but a few practical remarks may be of advantage. 

 It is evident, then, that the plant must be of a certain age, 

 or at least of a certain magnitude, before it will start free- 

 ly or to good purpose. Suckers of the first year exert all 

 their energies in the production of roots and foliage ; and 

 if any of them happen to start, they exhibit little more 

 than a tuft of leaves where the fruit should be. In the 

 second year a Queen pine is capable of producing a 

 perfect fruit ; and in the third year the New Providence 

 and other large varieties arrive at puberty. . The solid 

 part of the stem is then observed to have increased in 

 bulk, and to have ascended considerably above the soil. 

 It is of more practical importance, however, to remark 

 that the fruit-stalks do not appear until the pot is well 

 filled with roots. Apparent exceptions there may be to 

 this rule ; but in every case where it does not hold good, 

 the plant will be found to be diseased, or the roots to 

 have been violently destroyed. The grower should 

 therefore take care that the roots shall have nearly oc- 

 cupied all the new soil before the end of autumn, and 

 that in the course of the winter the tender fibres be not 

 exsiccated by drought, or rotted by excessive moisture. 

 Again, it is probable that at starting, there is a peculiar 

 check in the growth of the plant, which causes it to divert 

 the sap from the formation of leaves, and, like most other 

 vegetables in straitened circumstances, to provide the means 

 of reproduction, by throwing out flower-buds. This diver- 

 sion of the sap is influenced by the quantity of vigorous 

 fibres, for it is observed that when, from some accident, 

 plants not well furnished in this respect do show fruit, 

 they bestow the greater part of the sap upon the leaves. 



