ORCHARD HOUSES. 



299 



If fire heat is to be used, it should be started sometime 

 in January, and the temperature by day kept at from 80 

 to 90, sinking at night to from 40 to 50. If the fruit 

 is to be obtained by means 

 only of the protection and 

 heat of the glass, then the 

 trees should remain covered 

 until all risk of severe frosts 

 has passed. As the season 

 advances the heat will, of 

 course, be increased. Great 

 care should be given to the 

 watering, keeping the trees 

 always moist, but never wet, 

 and also to ventilation. The 

 spring or winter pruning is 

 best done just as the trees 

 come into bloom, but if the 

 summer pinching is attend- 

 ed to there will be little or 

 no occasion for any winter 

 pruning. 



The introduction of bees 

 into the house at blooming 

 time will assist greatly in fer- 

 tilization. In their absence 

 the tree should be occasion- 

 ally jarred by a slight blow 



from the hand. As the period of ripening approaches, or 

 as soon as they begin to show color, the trees should be 

 removed to a warm, sheltered spot in the open air, and 

 the boxes plunged in the ground. During the season, or 

 until the tubs are removed to the open air, for ripening 

 the fruit, they should be lifted and turned every ten days 

 to check the growth of outside roots. Watering with 

 liquid manure assists in giving vigor to the tree, and size 



149 TREE GROWN IN BOX. 



