ADDENDUM. 



Forcing Vegetables and Fruits. Training Fruit-trees. 



FORCING AND TRAINING. 



FORCING common garden vegetables and forcing or training 

 ordinary fruit-trees are modes of culture not likely to be very 

 generally adopted in American home gardens ; but, inasmuch 

 as they may occasionally be fancied or found desirable, the fol- 

 lowing brief account of their objects and modes is introduced 

 here as an addendum to the more valuable and important proc- 

 esses described in the body of the book. 



FORCING. 



FORCING is the general term descriptive of the various proc- 

 esses for raising vegetables, fruits, or flowers out of their natu- 

 ral or ordinary seasons or climates, by means of carefully-ap- 

 plied artificial heat under glass, whether in hot bed, or pit, or 

 grapery, or orchard-house, or green-house, or dwelling. 



Among gardeners, success in forcing is an object of ambition, 

 and its honors are worn with a good deal of professional pride. 

 Some affect to have peculiar modes of practice, which they hide 

 carefully from others, but which are often mere worthless con- 

 ceits. 



It will be apparent to any observant mind that crops which 

 in ordinary culture bear without injury the common vicissi- 

 tudes of climate in the open air may easily endure the lighter 

 and less frequent changes to which they are subjected in house 

 or frame culture, unless a most unnatural system is pursued, 

 or great carelessness displayed in their treatment. 



The beau ideal of forcing is to create artificially a climate so 

 perfectly resembling that which is natural and congenial to the 

 plants forced as to induce fair vigorous growth and fruiting un- 

 der a system of treatment not differing materially in other re- 



