244 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



pose the pots to be exposed to the 

 sun, care must be taken that the roots 

 are not scorched. This will happen 

 if the weather is excessively hot and 

 dry, as in 18G3 for instance, or if the 

 ■watering is nei^lected. An occasional 

 tap on the pots with the knuckle be- 

 fore giving water will, by the sound, 

 tell the cultivator what is the state of 

 the roots ; if the sound has anylhinj^ 

 of a " rins: " i^i it, the roots may be in 

 danger ; in which case mulch with 

 dead leaves, tan. or straw, or plunge 

 in coal-ashes. But there will be no 

 fear of scorching till the pots are full 

 of roots, and with good management 

 it is an evil the least of any to be 

 feared. 



Some time about the middle of 

 October, the plants should be put in 

 winter quarters, and to prevent injury 

 to the roots by frost, the best way is to 

 plunge them. Now, here mischief is 

 just possible, for plunge-beds are too 

 often made in a very careless way, so 

 that they are water-logged all winter. 

 If the plunge-bed has a rubble bottom 

 and a drain to carry off water, it M-ill 

 do for the strawberries ; if it is merely 

 a bed of ashes on a bottom of rin- 

 drained clay, then adopt the plan 

 recommended by Mr. M'Ewen in his 

 capital treatise on Strawberry Culture, 

 and which he describes thus : — "Have 

 artificial banks formed, at an angle of 

 about 40°, and in these banks form 

 shelves sufficiently wide apart to pre- 

 vent one row from shading the other. 

 Such banks gather a vast amount of 

 heat by day, this, together with the 

 dews hj night, aided by syringing, 

 tends to ripen the plants thoroughly." 

 Generally from the beginning of Sep- 

 tember till taken in-doors, the plants 

 wUl take care of themselves as to 

 watering, but they must have water if 

 there is a long continuance of dry 

 weather, and during long- continued 

 rains it will be well to shelter them 

 with spare lights set on large inverted 

 pots, or to lay the plants on their 

 sides. 



It is a question now what is to 

 be done with them. They may be 

 brought forward early -nithout the 

 aid of heat, or they may be forced 

 in the proper sense of that term. 

 We have several times fruited pairs 



of all the varieties we could procure, 

 and a very agreeable pastime it has 

 proved, independent of the advantage 

 of a large supply of fruit, and the 

 making acquaintance with their habits 

 and comparative excellencies. The 

 simplest method was found to be to 

 get the plants established in pots as 

 first described, and early in December 

 remove them to a bed of earth in a 

 lean-to with low roof, facing full 

 south.* The bed was, in the first in- 

 stance, covered with six inches of 

 half-rotten dung, and on this the pots 

 were placed sufficiently far apart that 

 the leaves could not meet, and where 

 they woiild have thorough ventilation 

 from front shutters opening the whole 

 length of the house. They require 

 but little water till they begin to 

 make new growth at the turn of the 

 year ; but, as soon as the season has 

 sufficiently advanced to cause a new 

 growth from the crowns, they must 

 have abundance. Early in March 

 they are showing bloom ; there is 

 then plenty of sunshine, and during 

 bright mornings they can be well 

 aired. Now is seen the advantage 

 of bedding them on dung, for by this 

 time they have rooted through the 

 pots into it, and the rich green hue 

 and immense size of the leaves fore- 

 tell that, if they fruit at all, they will 

 fruit nobly. There must be plenty 

 of air given from the time the blooms 

 expand till the fruit is gathered, but 

 the two most critical periods are when 

 the bloom is fully expanded and when 

 the berries are colouring. At such 

 times air and sunshine are most es- 

 sential to their well-doing, and the 

 first must be proportioned to the 

 second, the more sun the more air, 

 and vice versa. Water ovei'head at 

 all times, except at these two critical 

 periods ; but, while the bloi^soms are 

 in their full beauty, water v;ithout a 

 rose on the pot, pouring the water on 

 the soil only. As soon as there is a 

 good show of fruit water overhead, 

 and if the later blooms are injured 

 by it, no matter: you have a crop, 

 and must swell it freely, and, if the 

 trusses are well filled out, the last 

 blooms that open may be sacrificed, 



* See article entitled "The Lean-to," page 

 113 of the June number of the Floeal ^Vokid. 



