145 



weather continues, but if the weather happens to be 

 dull and cloudy, discontinue the sprinkling till warm 

 sun returns. About two weeks after the peaches have 

 taken the ripening swelling, stop the sprinkling, give 

 the house a great deal of air, and keep no fire-heat 

 through the day ; but, if the weather be dark or wet, 

 put on a little fire every night. If the weather happens 

 to be warm and dry, give the house air through the 

 night, and no fire-heat. {Hort. Soc. Trans, vii. 210.) 



3Ir, 3fearns does not approve of the Dutch method 

 of resting the trees every alternate year, and considers 

 the practice is a bad one, as the tree once forced, when 

 due attention has been paid to the roots, is in the best 

 state for early excitement again ; a tree taken direct 

 from a wall not so, as it is excited two or three months 

 before its natural season. If a judicious attention be 

 paid to the roots, the same tree is far more success- 

 fully forced for a great many years. A late gardener 

 to Lord Stafford told Mr. Mearns that an amateur 

 clergyman near Norwich had successfully forced the 

 same trees for more than thirty years. His practice 

 was to take them up every season as soon as they had 

 done growing, and to plant them against a northern 

 aspect till the end of November, and in the mean time 

 to clear all the soil from his border, and fill it again 

 with well-prepared compost. His usual time to com- 

 mence forcing was the beginning of January. Mr, 

 Mearns had a small house erected for the experi- 



