Cultivation.

As early in the summer as the young runners of strawberries have taken root, they should be taken up and planted out in nursery beds, at a distance of five or six inches from each other. These, in the course of the summer and autumn, will make fine, large, well-rooted plants, and many of the kinds will be sufficiently strong to produce fruit the following summer.

In preparing the ground for the reception of these plants, it should be trenched two spades deep (twenty inches), with a quantity of half-rotten dung mixed with the first spit. In planting them out, the most economical method perhaps will be, to plant in beds of four rows each, with intervals of two and a half or two feet between the beds, according to the sorts to be planted.

The strongest growers, such as Wilmot's Superb, and all the varieties of the third Class, may be fifteen inches from row to row, and fifteen inches between each plant; the next strongest may have the rows fifteen inches apart, and the plants twelve inches; the third size, comprising all those of the sixth and seventh Classes, may have the rows twelve inches apart, and the plants twelve inches; the fourth size, those of Class I. and V., may have the rows twelve inches apart, and the plants nine inches.

During the first year, all the runners should be cut off the plants some time before they have taken root, which will give the stool plants full possession of the soil. Such sorts as show fruit should have the ground covered, when coming into blossom, with either short grass or with straw, which will keep the blossoms clean, and the fruit free from soil when ripe; besides, the surface of the ground will be protected from the scorching rays of the sun, and in case of heavy showers the rain will thus be prevented from running off. As soon

as the fruit is gathered, however, this covering should be removed, and the ground kept clean by the hoe. In the winter, and not before, as the plants will not have finished their growth, the leaves must be cut off, and the spaces among the plants, as well as the alleys, dug carefully over, so as not to injure their roots: this will be best done with a three-pronged fork, instead of the spade. The second summer, the plants will bear their best crop and finest fruit; the beds and outside of the alleys should be covered with mown grass or with straw, as before, three or four inches thick: by this method I have found the fruit not only more abundant, but much finer than by any other.

In cultivating the Hautbois Strawberry, plants from bad collections produce a number of what some gardeners call male or sterile plants; and many are of opinion, that because they are males, it is necessary they should be preserved in their beds, in order to fertilise the others; and some have gone so far as to plant them with a rather numerous regularity for this purpose. The consequence has been, that their beds have proved more fertile in leaves than in fruit, and the stock has at length been condemned as bad; whereas its sterility has proceeded from those favourite males, the stools of which having no crop of fruit to support always produce a superabundance of runners, which being also much stronger than the fertile ones have consequently overrun and overpowered them, and literally annihilated the only ones capable of producing fruit.

Having had a parcel of Hautbois plants given to me some years ago, I planted them out, and suspecting there were many sterile plants among them, I did not suffer a runner to remain the first year. The second year, five plants out of six proved to be so, which I immediately destroyed; and as soon as the runners of the fertile ones became rooted, I planted out the bed afresh:

these produced me one of the most fertile crops I ever saw, and the runners from them produced their successive crops the same.

I selected a few of the finest of the first berries of those which bore the first year, and sowed the seeds; these produced, as might be expected, both fertile and sterile plants, the latter of which I again destroyed, and saved a few only of those which produced the finest fruit, and of similar size, figure, and quality; the runners from these I planted out as before, and they produced me a perfect crop of fruit, without a single sterile plant being found among them: thus was my first stock of prolific Hautbois obtained.

After stating thus much relative to this class of Strawberries, it can hardly be necessary for me to point out the necessity of closely examining all new-made beds of them, and of entirely extirpating those worse than useless sterile plants.

Alpine Strawberries have been recommended by some to be always raised from seed. I have raised many this way, and I have found myself disappointed, in having a portion of them produce inferior fruit to those from which the seeds were obtained. Thus a mixture of Alpines is the result, which in my opinion is no way desirable, as in all cases a crop of the best fruit can never be equalled by a mixture of the best with inferior varieties.

In propagating the Alpine Strawberry by the runners from one single plant, all its offspring must be the same; it therefore becomes necessary to select the very finest kind for the purpose; the fruit large, broad at its base, and sharply conical.

If the runners are planted out in August or the beginning of September, the beds will be covered with runners by the spring; these should not be removed, as directed for the other classes, because the first and

strongest of them will produce fruit during the autumn, and continue in succession to a late period of the season. But a succession of finer fruit than these is produced by cutting off all the flower stems as soon as they begin to blossom, from their commencement in the spring till the end of June. By this means a most abundant supply of the very finest fruit is produced from the end of July till the frost sets in.

In pursuing this latter mode of management, it would be most advisable, perhaps, to plant a small-sized bed for the purpose, allowing the plants a space of six or eight inches from each other, instead of more, which will ensure a thicker crop; and in all cases with Alpines, it would be still better to have some of both Red and White planted upon a north aspect, and that these plantings should be removed annually.

The Wood Strawberry requires the same management, except in this, that as it does not produce its fruit in the autumn, its flower stems must not be cut down in the spring, in expectation of a succession crop.

Forcing of Strawberries.

Strawberries are in such general estimation, that a supply of them during the season when they cannot be obtained in the open ground is one of the principal objects of the gardener's attention. The produce of outdoor strawberries is terminated by the frosts in October and November, until the following June: the assistance of the forcing-house is required to furnish the dessert during this interval. The Alpines are the first to be brought into bearing by artificial heat. For this purpose, pots of six inches deep and six inches wide at the top should be made use of, planting four or five young runners in each, in the month of March or April: they must be kept through the summer, plunged in the

earth, in a shady part of the garden: kept clear from weeds, and well supplied with water. In October, before the frosty mornings set in, put them under shelter they will by this time be in flower; and in the latter part of November, they may be removed into the forcing-house or pinery, where they will bear fruit through the winter.

The next sorts are the Scarlets and Roseberries. The last year's late runners of these are to be potted in May or early in June, using the same sized pots as before, putting four or five plants in each pot: some of these will be showing bloom at this time, which must be picked off, as well as any flowers or runners which may be put forth in the summer.

Keep the pots in the shade till the plants are well rooted, watering them frequently; they may then be plunged in the earth, in an open part of the garden, where they may remain till wanted. In January, place them in the forcing-house, on shelves eighteen inches from the glass, or next the front sashes: they should be placed in pans, and watered as often as they become dry, taking care to supply water to the pans only, when the plants are in flower, as watering the leaves and flowers at this time is very injurious to the crop.

When the fruit begins to swell, some of the leaves should be pinched off, to give light and air to the fruit, by which means it becomes both larger and better flavoured. To ensure a supply of fruit, it is necessary to have a succession of plants, which must be kept in frames, ready to be removed into the forcing-house when wanted.

The Pine Strawberries are those which succeed the Scarlets; their management is similar, and they are generally brought into the forcing-house in February or March. When the fruit has been gathered off the plants, the pots may be plunged into a shady border: