STRAWBERRIES UNDER GLASS. 



During the past winter we made an attempt upon a consider- 

 able scale to grow strawberries under glass. The attempt was so 

 successful that the methods which were employed in the raising 

 of the crop are here detailed. The experiment was made under 

 difiSculties from the fact that we have no house especially adapted 

 to the purpose, the climate of Ithaca is excessively cloudy,* and 

 we also had no well-established strawberry plants of the varieties 

 which we desired from which young plants could be raised. 

 Consequently the berries were grown in two houses which were 

 too high and rather too dark for their best development ; and the 

 plants were taken from stock which was set late in the spring of 

 1896. It is probable that best results are to be secured from run- 

 ners of maiden plants which are set very early in the spring or in 

 the fall before. 



The stock plants from which runners were taken were set on the 

 6th of May in rich and mellow ground, but the season turned out 

 to be very dr^'- and the plants made less growth than they would 

 have made in a normal season. Three lots of plants were grown 

 from this stock, as follows : The first lot was grown in 2}4 inch 

 pots plunged under the runners on July loth ; the second lot was 

 from pots plunged on July 27th ; and the third from those plunged 

 on August 2 2d. After having grown in these pots for a period of 

 about two weeks, the plants were taken up and shifted into 4-inch 

 pots and were then put in frames. The frames which we used for 

 this purpose were simply common cold-frames, upon which no 

 glass was placed until very cold weather came on. 



The first lot of plants was taken to the frames on the 24th of 

 July ; the second upon the 21st of August ; and the third lot upon 

 the I ith of September. The plants were shifted again into 5-inch 

 and finally into 6-inch pots, and in the latter size they were 



"From December ist to February ist there was not a full day of clear sun- 

 shine. 



