FORCING THE APRICOT, PLUM, AND CHERRY. 547 



assistance. One object in growing the plum and 

 cherry in pots is, that, in the event of any of 

 them not setting well, or becoming unhealthy, 

 they can be more readily removed, and their 

 places supplied with others from the reserve 

 stock, for such a stock must always be main- 

 tained. The plum is liable to grow much to 

 wood, which the confinement of its roots in a 

 pot would greatly check. Again, after their fruit 

 is gathered, they can be removed to the open 

 air, and the house used for other purposes, such 

 as ripening late crops of melons, figs, &c. 



Mr Rivers, who has carried the pot-culture of 

 fruit trees to a very great extent, says, in defence 

 of his system over that of growing the trees 

 planted out in the border of the orchard-house, 

 that " they cannot, when grown out of doors, 

 be kept in control, even with annual root-prun- 

 ing. I have some peach trees which have been 

 planted in the raised border of one of our 

 orchard-houses four years : they bear admir- 

 ably ; but in spite of root-pruning they will 

 grow too rapidly. Now in pots the size and 

 growth of the trees may be regulated with the 

 greatest nicety : the annual root-pruning can be 

 done with much facility, and there is no occa- 

 sion to dig or disturb the borders, which must 

 be done to a great extent to root-prune properly 

 trees planted in them. In fine, as far as my ex- 

 perience has gone, I can imagine nothing so eli- 

 gible as pots or vases for fruit trees in orchard- 

 houses, or fruit conservatories." As these trees 

 require abundance of air and light, the old- 

 fashioned lean-to houses and pits are the very 

 worst they can be placed in, the best being 

 span-roofed houses with large glass, as little 

 opaque surface in the roof as possible, and their 

 sides glazed to within a foot or 18 inches 

 of the ground. The whole length of the ridge 

 should be capable of opening at least to the 

 extent of 18 inches in breadth, and the side 

 ventilation placed in the parapet walls, with 

 glass ventilators a foot in breadth of open- 

 ing, and extending the whole length of the 

 structure, with the exception of 12-inch pieces 

 only between them, to sustain the superstructure. 

 Thus ventilation can be abundantly secured 

 close to the ground ; and the sides being fixed, 

 the cold air, instead of rushing in directly upon 

 the trees, will have to pass over and under the 

 hot-water pipes, and be by this means of equal 

 temperature with the air in the house before it 

 reaches the foliage. Want of light and ventila- 

 tion has hitherto been the cause of failure in 

 the early production of these fruits. 



Early in October plums and cherries should 

 be potted, to keep up a proper succession of 

 trees fit for forcing, because, under the best 

 management, some may be expected to die or 

 become sickly yearly. Trees for this purpose, 

 although healthy, should not be of luxuriant- 

 growth, and those in which a predisposition to 

 form abundance of fruit-buds has been induced 

 by root-pruning should be preferred ; the con- 

 finement of their roots by the pots afterwards 

 will maintain this disposition. Cherries and 

 plums are often to be met with in nurseries 

 which, from some cause or other, have ceased 

 to make much wood, and have become thickly 



set with short fruit-bearing spurs ; these are very 

 eligible for this purpose, but to secure a supply 

 within the same garden it is better to purchase 

 maiden trees, and to attend to root-pruning and 

 pinching back the young wood during summer, 

 to save the risk of transporting them from a 

 distance when they are required for potting. 



The soil for potted plants should be good rich 

 loam of a sound firm texture, and the size of 

 the pots for the first season should not be less 

 than 12 inches in diameter, and 18 inches when 

 shifted the second year. 



In regard to sorts of cherries adapted for 

 forcing, the May duke is in general preferred, 

 although Nicol, and others since his time, have 

 recommended the Morello. Mr Rivers, in his 

 interesting work, " The Orchard- House," recom- 

 mends a great many, the earliest-ripening sorts 

 of which are the Early May, the May duke, the 

 Archduke, Jeffrey's duke, the Belle de Choisy, 

 and the Royal duke. He proposes, as the 

 proper stock for dwarf cherries and for such as 

 are to be potted, the Cerasus mahaleb, or per- 

 fumed cherry, as trees grafted or budded on it form 

 beautiful dwarf-bushes — remarking, however, 

 that it is better adapted to cherries of which the 

 May duke is the type, and for that of which the 

 Morello is the representative, than for the 

 Bigarreau and Heart cherries. 



The sorts of plums hitherto in general estimation 

 for forcing are — The Green gage, Orleans, Drap 

 d'Or, Yellow gage, and Early Orleans. The 

 Reine Claude de Bavay, an excellent Belgian 

 variety,has more recently been recommended for 

 this purpose, as has also the Jefferson, a first-rate 

 American plum ; and it is not at all improbable 

 that Angelina Burdett, Standard of England, 

 and Woolston black gage, may be found deserving 

 of the notice of the plum-forcer. Mr Rivers 

 gives a select list of sorts adapted to orchard- 

 house culture, the earlier of which are — Early 

 favourite, Early prolific, Jaune hative, Early 

 Orleans, Royale hative, De Montfort, Peach, 

 Imperial Ottoman, Purple favourite, Mame- 

 lonne, Isabella, Green gage, Columbia, Reine 

 Claude de Bavay, Tay Bank, Lawrence's gage, 

 Jefferson, &c. This intelligent cultivator re- 

 commends plums intended for potting to be 

 grafted on the sloe (Prunus spinosus). " If," 

 he remarks, "they have been removed the 

 year previous to potting, they will be full of 

 bloom-buds, and will bear a good crop the first 

 season ; if they can be procured already esta- 

 blished in pots, the crop will be better and the 

 fruit larger. The sloe stock is not, however, 

 absolutely essential ; for I have," he says, " some 

 grafted on the common plum-stock which are 

 abundantly fruitful." 



The soil and root and branch management 

 for plums are essentially the same as for cherries. 



The apricots hitherto subjected to early forcing 

 have been the much-esteemed Moorpark and 

 the Early red masculine ; the latter esteemed 

 only on account of its ripening somewhat 

 earlier. The more recently introduced Musch- 

 Musch and Kaisha, both early sorts, may be also 

 confidently employed. Apricots have hitherto 

 been considered more difficult to manage under 

 glass than either plums or cherries. They, under 



