THE FORCING GARDEN. 



589 



sometimes trained to small fan-trellises fixed to the pots, but 

 they ^inswer and look much better when trained as dwarf- 

 standards, in which form peach-trees always ripen their fruit 

 much better than by any mode of training practised. When 

 the fruit is nearly ripe, they may be removed to the green- 

 house or conservatory, where they will have a good effect, if 

 arranged amongst the exotic plants in either compartment. 

 Sometimes they are slightly forced, and removed into the open 

 air, where they should be partially shaded from the sun for the 

 first eight or ten days, and then placed in the flower-garden or 

 some sheltered spot till they fully ripen. In this way the fruit 

 becomes extremely high-flavored, and of a beautiful color. 

 Occasionally, in very warm seasons, the peach and nectarine- 

 trees thus treated, if forced very early and plunged out into 

 tne open air, will produce a second crop in autumn, similar to 

 strawberries or cherries, which have been early forced ; but in 

 this case, the trees seldom recover from the effects of the ex- 

 periment, which can only be considered as a matter of curiosity, 

 and not utility. Fruits thus ripened, in handsome ornamental 

 pots, vases, or neat architectural boxes, are often placed upon 

 the table, with their ripe fruit upon them, where every one 

 can help himself ; in this way they have an agreeable and cu- 

 rious effect. 



FORCING CHERRIES. 



Of all fruits accelerated by artificial means, none are so dif- 

 ficult to obtain as cherries, they being apt to shed their blos- 

 som without setting their fruit. This is sometimes owing to 

 imperfection in the parts of fructification, which we often find 

 to be the case also with trees in the open air. The most suc- 

 cessful forcers of cherries agree in giving as much air as pos- 

 sible, and regulating it as nearly as possible to the state of the 

 atmosphere at the time the trees are in blossom, and until the 

 fruit be set ; thus giving strength to those parts naturally debi- 

 litated, and which would be rendered more so if confined in a 

 close atmosphere. 



The sorts most generally preferred for forcing are the May- 

 duke, and sometimes the Morella. This latter sort is much 



