18 THE FLORIST. 



can give One plant of this, however, which I have trained to a south 

 wall affords me thousands of blossoms, and I am assured by the men 

 who make up bouquets, that it is the most useful flower they have for 

 the purpose. This Honeysuckle is admirably adapted for training 

 against a house, and it will do on any aspect but the north. 



Belvoir, December 27. W. I. 



FRUIT CULTURE.— No. XII. 

 BY MR. POWELL, FROGMORE. 



{Continued from page 231.) 

 Smalt, Fkuits. 



The Strawberry. — It may be truly said that among all small fruits 

 that occupy our gardens none are so universally esteemed as the Straw- 

 berry. It is most delicious and grateful to the palate, and is considered 

 to be the most wholesome of all fruit, and extremely useful for various 

 domestic purposes; to the confectioner it is invaluable for preserves 

 and ices, and I believe it is not generally known that it possesses 

 excellent qualities for making wine, and may add that Strawberry 

 wine is not surpassed by any other of home make ; a pleasant cool- 

 ing summer drink may also be made by pouring boiling water on the 

 fruit, with the addition of a little sugar and lemon juice. 



It is indeed a fortunate thing that such a useful and delicious fruit 

 is of easy cultivation, and, farther, it does not require a great space to 

 have a good supply of it ; therefore, it is within the reach of all who 

 possess a garden, and the cottager who has only a small plot of ground 

 may have his Strawberry beds and fruit in abundance for his enjoy- 

 ment, without much trouble or expense. The Strawberry has 

 undergone such vast improvement of late years, and passed into so 

 many semi-varieties through the sporting of hybrids, that its original 

 character in the class from which it sprung is scarcely distinguishable. 

 It is usually divided into seven classes, viz., the Pine, scarlets, 

 black, green, Chili, Hautbois, and Alpine ; but the object of these 

 papers being principally the cultivation of fruit, all these classes are 

 useless here. Therefore, the division will be only according to the 

 difference in the culture of the sorts, viz., the Pine Strawberries, such 

 as the British Queen, Filbert, Elton, and similar varieties ; the scarlet 

 Strawberries, and kindred sorts ; and the Alpine, Hautbois, &c, thus 

 including all under three heads. 



The best soil for the cultivation of the Strawberry is a strong deep 

 rich loam, but there is no soil in which some of the varieties may not be 

 grown. Choose an open situation, and avoid planting under the shade 

 of large trees ; in such places they seldom produce much fruit. In all 

 cases the ground must be well prepared by trenching and manuring 

 previous to forming new plantations, and avoid, as far as circumstances 

 will admit, planting where Strawberries grew before until, the ground 

 has been used for other crops. When the trenching is being done, and 



