CHERRY FORCING IN BRITISH GARDENS. 483 



force for two or three years to come ; and they should, therefore, be turned 

 out of the pots into the free soil, and allowed at least two years to recover 

 themselves, when they may be again re-potted and forced. While in the open 

 ground, all the blossoms produced should be picked off as soon as they 

 appear, to prevent them from weakening the trees. In the cherry, as in 

 most trees that produce their blossom on the wood of the preceding year, or 

 on spurs, the blossom-buds expand first, and next the barren or wood-buds. 

 The latter continue growing till the petals of the flowers drop off, when they 

 receive a check, and scarcely grow at all, till the fruit is set and begins to 

 swell ; after which they grow rapidly, and complete the shoots of the year, 

 by the time the fruit is stoned. 



1026. To have a constant succession of cherries from the middle of March 

 till July, as soon as the trees of one house have come into blossom, those of 

 the next should have artificial heat applied, and the temperature and manage- 

 ment will be in every case the same as that which has been above described. 

 It may be observed here, that cherry -houses, with the trees planted in the 

 ground, are much less suitable, not only for early forcing, but for main and 

 late crops, than cherry-trees planted in pots. The cherry cannot, like the 

 peach and the nectarine, be forced for a number of years together ; and 

 hence, as a house in which the trees are planted in the ground must, every 

 three or four years, have a season of rest, the house during that season, having 

 the sashes taken off, is in a great measure of no use. (Gard. Mag. vol. xiv. 

 p. 41.) 



1027. Forcing cherries by a temporary structure. Where a portion of 

 wall (especially with a southern aspect), already well furnished with May- 

 dukes, perfectly established, and in a bearing state, can be spared for forcing, 

 a temporary glass case may be put up against it ; the flue may be built on 

 the surface of the border, without digging or sinking for a foundation; 

 neither will any upright glass or front wall be requisite ; the wooden plate 

 on which the lower ends of the rafters are to rest may be supported by piles, 

 sunk or driven into the ^oil of the border, one pile under every, or every 

 alternate, rafter. The space between the plate and the surface of the soil 

 should be filled by boards nailed against the piles, to exclude the external 

 air, for the plate must be elevated above the level of the surface from 

 eighteen to thirty inches, or whatever height may be sufficient to let the 

 sashes slip down, in order to admit fresh air. This structure will suit well for 

 cherries, for such structures have been erected for forcing peaches with good 

 success, as well as for maturing and preserving a late crop of grapes.' 

 (Torbron in Hort. Trans, vol. iv. p. 117.) 



1028. German practice. In the Royal Gardens at Potsdam, cherries are 

 frequently forced so as to be ripe by the end of February ; the gardener there, 

 Mr. Fintlemann, being remarkably successful in this department of forcing. 

 The plants are potted a year before they are forced. They are potted in 

 autumn, and the roots protected from frost through the winter by being 

 covered with litter. 



In the following spring the blossom buds are broken off as soon as they 

 appear ; and, by the end of June, all the shoots which have pushed freely 

 have their points pinched off, so as to leave not more than six buds, which 

 buds by that operation become blossom buds. 



Before the plants are taken in they must at least have sustained 14 Fahr. 



