411 
HORT1C 
fummer, maybe planted out in cool ground, at fix inches 
diftance, by way of a nurfery, in order for making new 
plantations towards the end of September, or in Oftober. 
This is thought a good way, though it is feldom p raft; feci. 
The common method is to let the runners remain till 
September, and then, as early in the month as may be, to- 
drefs the beds, and feleft the ftrong and moll buffiy-rooted 
lets for forming new beds. It would* however, be an ad¬ 
vantage, both to the old llools and the young plants, to 
fuffer only the firft or fecond runners to remain for that 
pnrpofe. 
'In the management of a nurfeiy, the young plants of 
trees and Ibrubs Ihould be dug round once a-year, by a 
downright cut of a lharp fpade, a little diftance from the 
Hems, nearer or farther off according to their age, to 
Ihorten draggling roots, and produce new ones more at 
home : let this be done in Oftober or February; the for- 
n .:r time is bell for the older plants, and the latter for 
young ones. The made alfo may be drove under them to 
cut off t he tap-roots, where it is not an objeft to preferve 
them. By this praftice a good full bulhy root will be 
ob ined, fitting plants for a profperous removal; but it 
ill >ui oe done year before tranfplanting ; it alfo im- 
pr ves the foil. Ever-greens in particular would be fafer 
to move, being thus treated; and, if only to be moved 
from one part of the ground to another,, balls of earth in 
thi. cafe will hold well to them. Immediately after the 
operation, a thorough watering will be proper to fettle 
the earth to the roots, except the ground be quite moilt; 
but'this work of digging a nurfery is bell done when the 
ground is dry. 
Of the FORCING or HOT-HOUSE. 
It is not known to what nation or people we are in¬ 
debted for the difcovery of the art of accelerating the 
growth of efculent vegetables and fruits, and of ripening 
them before their accuftomed time, by fubjefting them 
to the operation of heat, in imitation of that of the fun. 
In the eailern countries, where the genial warmth of the 
climate affords two or three harvells 'within the year, and 
furnifhes fpontaneous fucceilions of the fined fruits and 
vegetables, fuch an invention could not be of the lmalleft 
utility; it mull therefore have had its rife in fome of the 
nations of Europe, where the climate is ever more or lefs 
variable and uncertain. 
From the evidence of Martial, lib. viii. 68, we learn 
that the Romans were acquainted with the ufe of hot- 
lioufes ; but whether they borrowed or not the idea from 
the Greeks, does no where appear. Tiberius Csefar, who 
was fond of cu'cumbers, had them in his garden through¬ 
out the year by means of iloves, where they were grown 
in boxes, wheeled out in fine weather, and replaced in the 
nights, or in cold weather. Pliny, xix. 23. Flues the Ro¬ 
mans were well acquainted with ; they did not ufe open 
fires in their apartments as we do, but in the colder coun¬ 
tries they always had flues under the floors of their apart¬ 
ments. Mr. Lyfons found the flues, and the fire-place 
from whence they received heat, in the Roman villa he 
has deferibed in Gloucefterfhire ; in the baths alfo, which 
no good houfe could be without, flues were ufed to com¬ 
municate a large proportion of heat for their fudatories, 
or fweating-apartments. The article with which their 
windows were glazed, was talc, or what we call Mufcov.y 
glafs, (Mica membranacea -,) from its ufe it was called lapis 
fpecularis ; and fo common was the ufe of this material for 
windows, that the glazier, or perfon who fitted the panes, 
had the name of Specularius. 
In Martial’s Epigrams, (obferves fir Jofeph Banks,) 
the following remarks prefent themfelves-. The firll de- 
feribes a peach-houfe: the word pale, which feems meant 
as a ridicule upon the praftice, gives reafon for this fup- 
pofition ; we ail know that peaches grown under glafs, 
cannot be endowed either with colour or with flavour, 
nnlefs they are expofed by the removal of the lights, from 
the time of their taking their fecond fvvell, after Honing, 
ULTURE, 
to the direft rays of the fun; if this is not ftriftly at¬ 
tended to, the beft forts will be only pale-green when 
ripe, and not better than a turnip in point of flavour; 
but it is not likely that a Roman hot-houfe ihould, in 
the infan -y of the invention, be furnifhed with moveable 
lights, as ours are. 
The fecond epigram of Martial refers plainly to a grape- 
houfe, but it does not feem to have been calculated to 
force the crop at an earlier period than the natural one 5 
it is more likely to have been contrived for the purpofe 
of fecuring a late crop, which may have been managed 
by deitroying the firll fet of bloom, and encouraging the 
vines to produce a fecond. The laft line of the epigram, 
which Hates the office of the houfe to be that of compelling 
the winter to produce autumnal fruits, leads much to this 
opinion. 
Next to the Romans, the French appear to have been 
the earliefl in the ufe of hot-houfes. The. firll noticed 
were eflabliffied in the royal gardens at Anet, by order of 
Francis I. and it appears that Henry IV. had open ar¬ 
cades erefted to face the fouthern fun, for accelerating 
the early growth of peafe. And yet la Quintinie, who 
formed the fuperb kitchen-garden at Verlailles, had f’carce- 
ly in his time made any farther advances; for it is well 
known that fruits and flowers were at that time brought 
by poll from Provence to Louis XIV. for the gratifica¬ 
tion of his court. Fagon, at the Jardin-des-plantes at 
Paris, was the firft who caufed glazed faffies to be con- 
ftrufted for the proteftion and growth of foreign plants, 
which, for want of fufficient light, could not flouriffi in 
the green-lioufes built for orange-trees, fuch as the fu¬ 
perb orangerie at Verlailles. To thofe faffies were added 
Iloves and furnaces. But thefe methods do not appear 
to have been applied to forcing fruit, till the reign of 
Louis XV. 
We are affured that an Englifhman, named Gordon, 
was the firft who made experiments of this kind, in con- 
fequence of obferving that a vine-branch, which acci¬ 
dentally entered between two fafhes of a window, put out 
leaves long before the reft of the ftem, and that the forced 
grapes it produced ripened better. Hence is faid to have 
arifen all the hot-houfe faffies, the frame-lights, hand- 
glaffes, or covers formed of finall panes of glafs joined to¬ 
gether in leaden frames, and thofe formed of large plate- 
glafs. At length Richard Senior built both for himfelf 
at St. Germain, and afterwards for the French king at 
Trianon, hot-houfes, in which were feen, for the firft 
time in France, peaches, cherries, plums, itrawberries, 
apricots, and vines, bearing fruit in the depth of winter; 
and lilacs, rofes, honeyfuckles, feringas, hyacinths, nar- 
ciffufes, and other flowers, in full bloom. 
And hefie it is pleafing and curious to remark, in what 
a Angular manner plants adjuil themfelves to the feafon 
of the year, nay to the hour of the day, and become 
inured by artificial heat and gentle degrees to a foreign 
climate. Near the pole they are later in growth, and ri¬ 
pen fo much the quicker, as the lummer arrives more 
late, and operates more forcibly. Plants that grow in 
fouthern countries, v/hen brought to Europe, ripen later 
the firft year, as they wait for the fun of their own clime ; 
the following fummers they arrive earlier and earlier at 
maturity, as they become habituated to their new fitu- 
ation. In the artificial warmth of a hot-houfe, each {till 
follows its native feafons ; even if it have been fifty years 
in Europe. The plants of the Cape bloffom in our win¬ 
ter, as then arrives the fummer of their native country. 
The marvel of Peru bloffoms with us at night; probably, 
obferves Linnaeus, becaufe it is then day in America, 
whence it originally came. Thus, every individual plant 
adheres to the time, even to the hour of the day, at which 
it has been wont to open and ftiut; and by thus retain¬ 
ing their habits, and arriving at due perfection in our 
hot-houfes, they fuggefled the poffibiiity of railing. and 
ripening the moft delicious foreign fruits in colder coun¬ 
tries* 
Hot* 
