50 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE. 



Warm Plants- ^ Njght 



Tomato 75 65 



Cucumber 75to8o 65 to 70 



Melon 75to8 5 6 5 to 7 o 



Eggplant 75 to 80 65 



Pepper 75 65 



Asparagus and rhubarb (when forced 



from temporary roots) 75 to 85 65 to 70 



In bright days the temperature may run much higher than 

 these figures, but if plenty of fresh air is given on such 

 occasions no ill results should follow. 



SOILS FOR FORCED VEGETABLES. 



Forcing-house soils should not only be rich in available 

 plant food, but they should be of a mellow and friable 

 texture, so that the water soaks through them uniformly, 

 leaving them dryish and loose on top. A soil with much 

 clay tends to run together, or to cement itself, especially 

 if watered from a hose, and the plants tend to make a 

 spindling and unwilling growth. On the other hand, a soil 

 with very much manure or litter is so loose as not to hold 

 sufficient water to keep the plant in health ; or if it does 

 hold the requisite moisture, it tends to produce a robust 

 and over-willing growth at the expense of fruit. Yet, 

 despite all this, the skill of the gardener is much more 

 important than the character of the soil, for a skillful man 

 will handle even hard clay soils in such manner as to give 

 good results. The chief single factor of manipulation in 

 determining the productivity of soil in forcing-houses is 

 the watering, to which we shall presently advert. 



The best forcing-house soils are those which have a 

 foundation of good garden loam, and are lightened up 

 with sharp sand and some kind of fiber. This fiber is 

 usually very well rotted manure, or rotted sods. Thin 

 sods cut from an old pasture especially from one which 

 has a clay loam soil and allowed to stand in a low flat 

 pile for a year or so, being turned or forked over once or 



