314 Appendix. 



for special purposes, such as to supply the tables of those who can disregard 

 the cost of the product and those who wish to use the plants for decorative 

 purposes. There are, however, some people who will wish to grow a few pots 

 of strawberries out of season, and for their information a brief description of 

 the methods used is here given. 



PLANTS TO USE. 



The plants for forcing purposes should be the earliest runners from well- 

 established plants. These runners should be rooted in two or three inch pots, 

 plunged in the soil at a convenient distance from the parent plant to allow the 

 I'unner to be placed over the pot and held in position by a small weight (stone » 

 placed upon the extension of the runner to hold it and to discourage its growth 

 beyond the pot. As soon as the young plant has filled the small pot with roots, 

 it should be cut loose from its parent and immediatel.v shifted to a six-inch pot 

 filled with soil composed of three parts of well rotted turf and one part of sharp 

 sand. To this should be added about one quart of finely ground bone or dissolved 

 rock for each two bushels of the compost. As soon as the plants have been 

 placed in the six-inch pots, these should be plunged in coal ashes or tan bark, 

 either In a cold frame or in a position where they can be sheltered from driving 

 rains. The cold frame is the most convenient and satisfactory arrangement. 

 The plants from this time on should be kept in a growing condition. About 

 the middle of September or the first of October the pots will be found filled 

 with roots and the drying-off process should then begin. This will cause the 

 plants to store up food in the crowns for the work which they will be called upon 

 to do. The plants should be kept rather dry. and l)e allowed to remain in the 

 cold frame until freezing weather begins, or until abf)ut eight weeks before the 

 berries are desired. 



THE FORCING PERIOD. 



T'pon taking the plants from the cold frame, all dead or diseased leaves 

 should be removed, the pots generally cleaned, and the crowns of the plants 

 sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. They should then be placed in a house with 

 a night temperature of about 35 degrees and a few degrees warmer during the 

 day, and the same arrangements in regard to plunging the pots as were main- 

 tained in the cold frame should l)e observed in the forcing house. After about 

 six or eight days, the temperature of the house should be raised at least !'• 

 degrees at night with a corresponding rise during the day. These higher tem- 

 peratures should be maintained throughout the whole forcing period. 



POLLINATION. 



As soon as the blossoms appear, it will he necessary to hand-pollinate 

 them, in order to cause the fruits to set, and to accomplish this it is necessary 

 to have the house dry and comparatively warm during the middle of the day. 

 which is usually the most convenient and satisfactory time for pollinating. A 

 camel's hair brush can be used to transfer the pollen from stamen to pistil and 

 from plant to plant. 



FERTILIZING. 



As soon as the fruits begin to swell the plants should be fed with a dilute 

 litiuid manure made preferably from well-rotted cow manure or sheep manure. 

 The first application should be quite dilute and should be applied soon after 

 the berries set. This application should be followed in about one week's time 

 by a second application of somewhat stronger manure water, a third about three 

 days, later, and so on at the same interval until the berries begin to color, 

 when all stimulant should be withheld and pure water only used for wetting the 

 plants. 



