344 LECTURE ON SPRING FLOWERS. 



by the use of the other. Plants have two periods of rest, 

 night and day, and summer and winter ; and a plant that 

 is made to rest in summer will surely work out its course 

 by blooming in winter. It is worthy of further remark 

 that a plant if removed from the open ground and forced 

 one year, and then returned to its former position, will 

 bloom at an earlier period than its fellows which may have 

 been left undisturbed, so great is the force of habit even 

 among plants. On these grounds, then, is the practice of 

 forcing based. 



I have only to enumerate a few plants which experi- 

 ence has shown to be well suited for the .purpose of 

 forcing : Amaryllises, Crocuses, Hyacinths, Tulips, Lily 

 of the Valley, Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, Azaleas, especially 

 the Ghent varieties, Deutzias, Red and White Dwarf 

 Almonds, Double White and Double Pink Japan Cherry, 

 the Double-blossomed Cherry, Plum, Peach, and Thorn, in 

 their kinds, Lilacs, Kalmias, Prunus trilobata, Rhododen- 

 drons, Roses, Syringas, and Viburnum plicatum. 



Such of these plants as are grown in the ground out 

 of doors should be transplanted from the ordinary nursery 

 rows one year before they are required for forcing. This 

 will induce the emission of fibrous roots below, and the 

 formation of flower-buds above ground during the follow- 

 ing summer. Late in October dig up the plants, pot 

 them, and place them in the forcing-house early in 

 December. Every successive year less heat will be re- 

 quired to bring them into full bloom at a given date, or if 

 the same amount of heat be applied they will be brought 

 into bloom at an earlier period. 



I add a brief synopsis of the most interesting and 

 attractive spring flowers, many of which have, however, 

 been already alluded to in this paper : 



I. FOR OUT-OF-DOOR CULTURE. Bulbs: Crocus, 

 Crown Imperial, red and yellow ; Cyclamen coum and 

 vernum ; Dog's-Tooth Violet, lilac and white ; Fritillaria 

 meleagris ; Hyacinths, garden varieties ; Muscari botry- 



