FLOWER-FORCING HOUSE OR PITS. 



731 



Thunbergia alata, aurantiaca, albiflora; Tillandsia 

 rubida, rosea, vitellina; Torenia asiatica; Vinca 

 rosea et flora alba. 



Great dependence must ever be placed on 

 hyacinths, jonquils, and the plants familiarly 

 known as Dutch bulbs. These having been, it is 

 presumed, potted in September, and buried in 

 dry soil, will be, by the beginning of November, 

 well rooted, and in a fit state for removal into 

 the forcing-pit. We may here remark, that it is 

 of vast importance to procure such roots as early 

 as they are imported, and that they be potted 

 immediately they are received. Allowing them 

 to remain unpotted till spring is exceedingly 

 hurtful to them; and even the old practice of 

 delaying this operation till November is so to a 

 certain extent. The earlier they are potted the 

 better; and, for our earliest show of flowers, we 

 plunge them in dry leaf-mould or sand, in an 

 apartment where the temperature is seldom 

 under 50° to 55°. For later supplies we bury 

 them in a dry border out of doors, but protected 

 from wet. The intention of potting early is to 

 secure a full development of roots before the 

 plants be put into a growing state, without which 

 the flowers would be of small account, having 

 little to support them beyond the elaborated sap 

 accumulated in the bulb itself during the pre- 

 vious summer; whereas, when well rooted, the 

 roots supply that support so necessary in the 

 production of a strong fine bloom. Want of 

 attention to this simple matter is the chief cause 

 of the frequent failures in their flowering. One 

 advantage of burying them is, that the weight 

 over the bulbs presses them to the soil they are 

 set on,not in — forthe bulbs should not be planted 

 deeper than half their diameter — and prevents 

 their being hove up by the slight resistance the 

 embryo roots meet with in endeavouring to de- 

 scend. From a temperature such as the above 

 they may be at once transferred to the forcing- 

 pit ; but as they have been hitherto kept in the 

 dark, care must be taken that they be not ex- 

 posed suddenly to the light ; and hence they 

 should be partially shaded for a few days after 

 removal, and only gradually exposed to the light. 

 All plants taken from the reserve garden, parti- 

 cularly in cold weather, should not be at once 

 taken into the warm forcing-pit. The transition 

 is too sudden. It is better to place them for a 

 few days in the intermediate temperature of a 

 protected pit, where they may be secured from 

 frost. The necessary pruning of roses, and such 

 shrubs as require it, should be early attended 

 to ; and as scarcely any two species admit of the 

 same mode of pruning, no general rule can be 

 here laid down. Forcing the rose will be de- 

 tailed in the Roserie. We may state that the 

 common Mezereum and the lovely Wiegelia rosea 

 flower on the shoots of the previous year; there- 

 fore any curtailment beyond thinning out ill- 

 placed or weak shoots would greatly defeat the 

 object in view. Lily of the valley is prepared for 

 the forcing-pit by being brought into the mush- 

 room-house, or any darkish and mild apartment. 

 There it forms its roots, and in eight or ten days 

 is fit for removal. For the majority of the plants 

 we have enumerated above, with the exception 

 of tropical ones, a moderate temperature only is 



required ; from 50° to 60° may be taken as an 

 average. A high temperature and dry atmos- 

 phere are equally bad, and few of those named 

 will require bottom-heat beyond that of the 

 temperature of the pit, except in so far as it is 

 necessary for creating action in the roots, which 

 should always have the start of the buds. Where 

 tropical plants are to be excited into bloom at 

 this particular season, bottom-heat and a higher 

 atmospheric temperature are required; and as 

 little dependence can be placed on solar heat at 

 this time, the bottom and top temperatures may 

 be set down at 70° to 65° as an average, allowing, 

 however, the latter to rise several degrees higher 

 whenever there is a little sunshine. As the days 

 turn, and the light and sun-heat are increased, 

 so also increase that of the pit. The great depen- 

 dence, however, for keeping up a gay appearance 

 in the ordinary greenhouse and conservator}', 

 must be placed on the hardier selection of plants, 

 as those in our previous list of Hardy and half- 

 hardy plants. Many of these, such as rhodo- 

 dendrons, azaleas, and herbaceous plants gene- 

 rally, may be at once taken up from where they 

 have been growing, and potted, well watered, 

 and placed in a cold pit till wanted to be set in 

 the forcing-pit. The great matter to be observed, 

 in all cases, is to bring them into a growing state 

 slowly, for a sudden transition from the tempera- 

 ture they have been growing in, to one much 

 higher, will only defeat the object aimed at ; 

 and hence they should be taken up as early in 

 the autumn as possible, and placed under a glass 

 covering, both to prevent their being exposed to 

 an unnecessarily low temperature, and also that 

 they may have time to make fresh roots before 

 they are farther excited; and to aid this, in some 

 cases, it is of advantage to place them in a mode- 

 rate bottom-heat. 



A more tender section of plants, suitable for 

 early spring flowering, consists of pelargoniums, 

 heliotropes, &c. These should be propagated 

 as early in the spring as possible, frequently 

 shifted, and forwarded in pits or frames until 

 they are fit for their final shifting into pots in 

 which they are to grow during summer. When 

 that season arrives, they should be plunged in 

 the reserve garden, in a situation fully exposed 

 to the sun and air, the greatest attention paid to 

 repeated stopping the shoots during summer, 

 and the removal of every flower, the great object 

 being to cause them to become stout stocky 

 plants, having their wood well ripened before the 

 season of growth closes. Neither of these plants 

 lifts well when grown in the open soil; besides, 

 they are apt to grow too large and straggling, 

 and if allowed to flower in the borders, much of 

 their energies is exhausted, their wood becom- 

 ing long-jointed, imperfectly matured; and the 

 check occasioned by the loss of their principal 

 roots is such, that they seldom recover even 

 to enable them to drag out a feeble existence 

 throughout the winter. 



The finer varieties of Primula sinensis are 

 highly decorative during winter, and not only 

 flower freely, but impart a grateful perfume. The 

 seed should be sown thinly in March, in light 

 sandy soil, and placed in a slight bottom-heat : 

 when the plants have attained two or three 



