THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 3, 1857. 
with blossom buds on some points and none on others. 
This must strike any ordinary observer. Now, the bar¬ 
renness of some shoots may arise from more than one or 
two causes. In the first place those shoots may be too 
luxuriant, or they may be late growths, or they may 
have been too much shaded by other growths, or, finally, 
they liiay hate been too weak to produce a blossom bud, 
j for a certain amount of strength is indispensable, although 
too much constitutes in many plants an invincible coarse¬ 
ness. The conditions requisite to form blossom buds in 
} this family are an intermediate strength of wood, early 
growth, and ripening the wood. 
And now I may allude to the Moss Rose, and this is 
more difficult, I confess, to explain. It does not blossom 
from the terminal points of the old wood like the Azalea, 
but from small buds like pin-heads, with which the sides 
of such shoots are studded. As to why it should be so I 
cannot fully explain, for it does appear strange in prun¬ 
ing such Roses to cut back to these simple-looking affairs; 
but this may suffice to point to-the great difference in 
habit between such things as the Azalea and the Rose. 
In looking over the plants suggested for forcing pur¬ 
poses I perceive it necessary to observe that some of 
them must be established in pots to succeed, and that 
others are quite as well removed from the open 
ground. Roses are almost useless unless well established 
in pots. Lilacs have ever been thought best thus es- 
| tablished; Sweet Briers the same, and let us add the 
Mezereon; but when we come to the American plants 
the case somewhat differs. These have been taken from 
the open ground, and forced immediately for probably 
! nearly a century. 
I may now allude to the conditions requisite for forcing 
them, for, although they will blossom in due time stuck 
on a greenhouse shelf, yet to have them flower at the 
end of January, or sooner, requires a special course of 
treatment. A moist heat is of the highest importance ; 
but that genial moisture which is destined to qualify 
the heat used, and to satisfy gaping pores in the foliage, 
depends but too often on the chances at command 
i rather than on principle. After all, gardeners seem to 
admit that there is nothing like a dung bed, and, indeed, 
j there is much truth in the opinion; but we must in 
I the main try to do with such means as lay at our elbows. 
| Be such what they may, a certain amount of heat and 
! also of air moisture is absolutely essential in order to 
command success. Bottom heat, too, is of great im- 
j portance in this matter. All shrubs force much better 
for plunging in a proper medium. Not that they will 
not succeed without it. They should by all means have 
as light a situation as possible, and be near to the glass. 
With regard to air heat it may be very moderate 
during the first stage of forcing, for our business is to 
excite a root action first, and, indeed, under any circum¬ 
stances the buds of these plants require a given time to 
develope themselves. 
Speaking here of the development of blossom buds 
reminds me of the length of time the Camellia re¬ 
quires to swell and expand the blossom bud. The 
latter, first manifest in May or June, cannot, by fair 
means, be made to expand before November. Here we 
see half a year consumed in organising and expanding 
the bud. This is, however, no great marvel when we 
consider the great amount of well-constructed petals 
which a bud contains, and which must of necessity take 
much time in perfecting, so that the beginner in forcing 
matters must not be astonished and impatient that his 
things make such slow advances. But it is so in all 
j forcing matters. The Vine, Peach, Strawberry, &c., all 
have to swell and expand their buds in a tardy way. As 
for Strawberries, one of the chief secrets of their suc¬ 
cessful forcing is to bring them forward in their earlier 
stages by a low temperature and by almost imper¬ 
ceptible degrees. 
65 
But to return to our forcing shrubs. Let me observe 
that those which are deciduous, as the Moss Roses, Rho- ■ 
doras, American Azaleas, Lilacs, kb., wifi pass the first 
three weeks of their forcing with very little light if needs 
be. They have little occasion for light Until the foliage 
commences development. The knowledge o’f this fact 
may sometimes enable the operator to economise his 
space. 
During the time that the bud is expanding syringWg 
should be used both morning and evening, providing 
there is fire heat applied to the structure. If only 
dung heat, and the weather is dull, the syringe must cer¬ 
tainly be dispensed with, as the steam from the ferment¬ 
ing materials will be amply sufficient. A liberal ventila¬ 
tion is proper—these hardy things cannot bear codling; 1 
and in order to carry out such it is necessary to be pro¬ 
vided with plenty of heat to meet such contingencies. 
Where persons force with the aid of fire heat in com¬ 
bination with bottom heat this is easily accomplished. 
Where dung pits are used without fire it is very difficult, 
and the consequence is that much putrefaction through 
damp is engendered through the earliest part of the 
spring. Of course watering at the root must be attended 
to, and it may be observed that American plants takefi 
up with balls of earth require very liberal waterings, 
especially as they approach the blossoming state. 
Here I may as well advert to the potting of them from 
the open soil. I before observed that there would be 
what is termed “ a ball,” that is to say, a mass of fibres 
from which the soil is with difficulty disengaged. Now, 
this ball is not by any means so readily permeable by 
water as the loose soil by which it is surrounded in the 
act of potting; therefore, in the act of potting, caution 
should be exercised, and the soil should be pressed in 
very firmly around the ball; but, be it remembered, that 
soils in a moist state will not bear much pressure, there¬ 
fore it becomes necessary to use dryish soil. 
I may here speak of retarding matters, and have to 
observe that this class of flowers are in general so sus¬ 
ceptible of extremes of temperature in the heat way that, 
unless caution is exercised, their beauties are soon dis¬ 
sipated. Azaleas, Rhododendrons, &c., left in a hot 
place where the forcing is carried on will not endure 
above a fortnight in all their freshness. Removed to a 
cool house or room they will, in most cases, endure treble 
the time, especially if kept fromffiiuch sunshine. Plants 
of this description are the better for a little pruning pre¬ 
viously to their being introduced to heat. Lilacs, Aza¬ 
leas, &c., often possess a few coarse shoots projecting 
beyond the true blossom. These having no blossom 
buds on are simply in the way of the object sought, and 
may be pruned close back. R. Errington. 
FLOWER-GARDEN PLANTS WHICH HAVE 
DONE WELL THIS SEASON. 
In my last communication mention was made of some 
of the usual ornaments of the flower garden which had 
either wholly or partially failed in contributing to the 
general display so much wanted during the summer 
months. Some of those complained of having generally 
done their duty well in former years ought not to be 
entirely discarded, while those which have done well 
this season, the same as on former occasions, have 
earned for themselves a reputation which will be the 
more enduring since they have proved themselves useful 
in all years; and though the rage for novelties was, 
perhaps, never greater than it is now, and plants adapted 
for bedding, whether new or old, are sought after with, 
untiring assiduity, still the number, in a general way, 
does not increase. The “ weedings” that annually take 
place absorb all the new comers, and the very small 
number of species or varieties that are often made to 
