NEW GARDEN FRUITS. 
9.5 
FORCING PLANTS FOR CUT FLOWERS. 
The great art of forcing is lost sight of by a 
majority of those who even profess forcing; 
we do not say by all, because there are some 
who know their business ; but a vast majority 
are content to take plants that are well esta- 
blished in pots, and to gently move them on, 
and at last add heat and so on until they 
flower. These, however, ar-e scarce, and a 
plant will be damaged a good deal by the cut- 
ting of the few flowers there may be, and they 
are then taken care of to get round again in 
condition for selling as plants, but the whole 
business is mistaken. Take established plants 
to begin with, but lose the first years' flowers-, 
begin early, get them as forward as possible, 
and as the flowers come, or either as the buds 
come, the first season pick them off, and keep 
the plant growing till it has made fair wood. 
The roses will complete their growth as well 
as camellias, daphnes, or other plants adapted 
for supplying cut flowers. As this comple- 
tion of the growth will be very much earlier 
than is usual, the next thing to mind is to 
keep them well watered, but as soon as it is 
completed, the plants should be removed to 
the coolest places, and be kept comparatively 
dry. Here they may remain to harden, and 
to be ready to start again early. Remove 
them into the house, and introduce fire heat 
very gradually. The plants, from their pre- 
vious years' early work, and having become 
partly inured to early work, grow sooner and 
stronger than they did the first season. We 
ought to have observed that roses have to be 
pruned much the same as if they were in the 
open air, but the second season they bear three 
times as many flowers as they would have 
borne the first, and the same plants ought to 
be forced year after year, because they become 
used to the altered season ; and if it be desired 
to make the flowers come very early, they 
have only to be taken into the house earlier 
every year till you have brought them into a 
regular habit of starting and growing early. 
The same plants shifted into larger pots from 
year to year, or as often as they require it, 
will continue to get better as they get older, 
and yield more flowers and better flowers 
with the growth, and most of them will 
come as natural three months earlier than 
the usual season, as the others do out of doors 
or under ordinary treatment. Camellias may 
be very well brought to flower regularly in 
October and November, instead of March and 
April. All we have to do is, to match as 
nearly as we can the season of rest, for it is 
the ripening of the wood that is the most 
important feature in the management ; but in 
many plants it is quite practicable to reverse 
the season of flowers, and at no period was it 
ever more desirable than at present, when the 
demand for cut flowers is almost greater in 
Avinter than in summer. Nothing has been 
more common than to fancy that a year's rest 
should be given to plants that are forced. 
Nothing, however, can be more mistaken. 
Plants should continually be used to go to 
work early, and the more they are used to it, 
the better the flowers and the more of them. 
NEW GARDEN FRUITS. 
The following notes on some new fruits 
which have recently been brought into notice, 
may be appropriately prefaced by the remark, 
that even yet, notwithstanding the many ex- 
cellent varieties we possess, the qualities of 
some of those classes of fruit which are in 
cultivation admit of much further improve- 
ment by the same means which the florist 
adopts to improve, or rather mould to his 
fancy, the flowers which he specially prizes. 
GRAPES. 
Josling's St. Albans. — This is a white grape 
of great excellence, possessing the peculiarly 
rich musky flavour which characterises the 
muscats and frontignans. The bunches are 
very long, and tapering with strong diverging 
shoulders ; and they are supported by a strong 
footstalk : the berries are round greenish- 
white, acquiring a tinge of golden yellow 
when well ripened, and about the size of those 
of the white Frontignan ; the flesh is firmer 
than that of Frontignan grapes, but not so 
firm as that of the Muscat of Alexandria, 
very rich and sugary with a Frontignan fla- 
vour. The leaves are tolerably round in 
general outline, not deeply lobed, but sharply 
serrated, and remarkably glabrous on both 
surfaces. It was raised by Mr. Josling, nur- 
seryman, of St. Albans, from seeds gathered 
promiscuously, and sown about six years ago ; 
he supposes it to be a hybrid between the 
White Nice, and the White Muscat. Like 
these, it will require to be grown in a warm 
house. 
Calabrian Raisin (Raisin de Caldbre). 
— This is a late white grape ; desirable as a 
contrast to the black St. Peter's — one of the 
best grapes known for keeping very late. 
The bunches are large, slightly shouldered, 
long and tapering ; the berries are large, quite 
round and transparent; the flesh is moderately 
firm, with a rich sugary juice. The vine 
grows vigorously, is a good bearer, and has a 
disposition to form very large bunches. It 
is chiefly valuable as being a late grape, with 
the property of hanging long after it is ripe, 
and it will also keep for a considerable time 
after being cut, so that with good manage- 
ment it may be preserved for months in a 
