246 METHODS OF FORCING. 



dictate, and which from a long and extensive 

 practice, and close application, has convinced 

 me, that what I have recommended, if pro- 

 perly attended to, will prove successful ; I will 

 conclude this part of the subject, by a few 

 general remarks thereon, and which may be 

 considered applicable, or nearly so, to the 

 whole. 



The most general time for commencing 

 forcing, is from the middle of January to the 

 beginning of February, although it is some- 

 times commenced earlier, and sometimes later ; 

 when the forcing is to be assisted with a bark 

 bed, it is an advisable plan, to make the bed 

 a week, or ten days, or a fortnight before the 

 fires are commenced ; in some cases, dung hot- 

 beds are substituted ; these should also be made 

 ten or twelve days before the fires, to get 

 settled, or to allow the rank steam to eva- 

 porate, then add ten or twelve inches of tan 

 at top, or in the absence of tan, some light 

 sifted soil, in which to plunge pots, or for raising 

 articles therein. When the fires are once 

 commenced, either for flues or pipes, they 



