32 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



disadvantages ; and as every private garden has its 

 own peculiar belongings and requirements, this 

 part of the subject may now he dismissed for the 

 consideration of the arrangement of the best houses 

 and pits for feeding the fruiting department with 

 properly-prepared succession plants. 



Succession houses need not be so large or so high 

 as fruiting houses ; but light, as has already been 

 pointed out, being such an important element, the 

 greatest care should be observed in making arrange- 

 ments for its free admission to the plants, through 

 every stage from the sucker to the finish. For 

 general pirrposes there is nothing better than the 

 unequal span-roofed house running east and west 

 (Fig. 2) from twelve to fourteen feet in width, with 

 movable lights for the 

 convenience of plunging 

 the plants, and the in- 

 troduction of Oak-leaves 

 or tan for affording the 

 necessary bottom heat. 

 A passage runs along 

 the back, and hot-water 

 pipes are present in 

 sufficient quantity to 

 secure the requisite 

 degree of heat without 

 having recourse to hard 

 firing, which is objec- 

 tionable in forcing- 

 houses in general, and 

 pine houses in particular. 



In addition to the suc- 

 cession house, a pit, for 

 propagating or rooting suckers as they are detached 

 from the fruiting plants, is essential to the complete 

 arrangement of the Pine-ground. An ordinary 

 brick pit fitted with hot-water pipes answers very 

 well, and is generally used for this purpose. It, 

 however, lacks the important convenience of a 

 passage along the back, by means of which the 

 plants can receive attention without exposing them 

 to the elements in bad weather. As the passage 

 (Fig. 4) need not be more than two feet in width, a 

 pit eight feet in the clear wiU give five feet of 

 plunging-space, which is quite sufiicient for the 

 purpose, as a greater width would place the front 

 rows of plants beyond the reach of the attendant 

 when external conditions render the opening of the 

 lights objectionable if not injui^ious. In its erection, 

 the first consideration should be a pitch or angle 

 that will not only carry rain-water off the external 

 surface of the glass, but also condensed moisture 

 irom the lower sides of the sash-bars. Many 

 successful Pine-growers have recommended very flat 

 roofs for Piae-pits ; their reasons given being the 



more even difl'usion of heat and atmospheric 

 moisture ; but with modern appliances at command, 

 it is easy to steer clear of drip, by erecting roofs at 

 an angle that will modify if they do not entu-ely 

 prevent this pernicious evil. 



Next, as to the arrangement of the plunging-bed. 

 The surface should be kept so near the glass as to 

 admit of the plants being placed therein vnth the 

 points of their leaves almost touching it ; and as all 

 Pine-growers admit the invigorating influence of 

 fermenting materials for rooting or growing them, 

 the depth should be suflBcient to admit of the intro- 

 duction of at least two feet of Oak-leaves or tan 

 above the hot-air chamber. But as many existing 

 Pine-j)its are not provided with hot-water pipes for 

 giviag bottom heat, and 

 its steady maintenance 

 is so important, extra 

 depth should be allowed 

 for the plunging mate- 

 rial to produce the 

 desired efltect indepen- 

 dently of the pipes. 



The suckers from 

 winter fruiters, which 

 are usually taken off in 

 the spring, can be rooted 

 in a Yery short time, by 

 being plunged in Oak- 

 leaves in an ordinary 

 garden frame of the old 

 MacPhail build: that 

 is to say, a frame with 

 hollow sides and ends, 

 hermetically closed at the top to keep in steam, 

 placed on a hot-bed at a temperature of 90°. In- 

 deed, in this way many good growers, who have to 

 contend with inconveniences, root all their suckers, 

 and transfer them to the hot-water pits later on. 



Boilers. — The Pine being a plant which revels in 

 high temperature through all its stages of growth, a 

 few words as to the means of suppljdng fire-heat 

 may not be out of place. In large gardens, where the 

 Pinery forms only one section of the forcing depart- 

 ment, a set of boilers may do all the work from a 

 central stoke-hole, the different houses being heated 

 separately or together from mains conveniently 

 placed for that purpose. But assuming that the 

 Pine-ground is detached, then the most convenient 

 situation for the boiler would be at the back of the 

 fruiting lean-to (Fig. 1). A main would be carried 

 direct to the span-roof, thence to the succession 

 houses, and last of all to the sucker or propagating 

 pit. As every professional gardener has his own 

 favourite boiler, it may be considered unnecessary or 



Fig. 2.— Hip-RCOFED Succession House, 



A, Plunging-bed; b, drainage; c, ventilator; iZ, 

 passage ; oo, pipes ; ee, liot air chamber. 



