iSyi.] CULTIVATION OF HARDY FRUITS. 507 



done well in this part of the country, and more particularly during the last few- 

 years. This piece of market-garden ground is without a doubt the most suit- 

 able place for Strawberry-growing we have ever seen. It is, and must have 

 been, an ungainly piece of ground prior to its being converted into Strawberry- 

 grounds, and many a good gardener might have had grave doubts about the 

 possibility of ever doing any good upon it. Nevertheless, the present tenant, 

 who is the first ever working it as a market-garden, has almost closed his first 

 nineteen years' lease, and will very shortly enter upon his second lease of a like 

 jieriod ; thereby proving that the ground has come up to his expectations, 

 although I know he had many misgivings at the time he entered upon his first 

 lease. I therefore have come to the conclusion that a heavy clay soil is best 

 suited for general Strawberry culture, and that no one need fear to plant upon 

 such ground, even if it should be suitable for brickmaking. 



Having thus spoken of the nature of the soil best suited for the Strawberry, 

 we will now revert to the preparation of the same. Our own practice is always 

 to plant after a crop of Onions, so that the preparation for the one crop is in a 

 great measure a preparation for the other : I will therefore explain the pre- 

 paration of the Onion-ground. Manure — good, rich, stable and cow manure — is 

 laid down at the rate of from 30 to 50 tons per acre, according to the quality of the 

 manure and the nature of the soil. After this we start trenching the whole 

 over four spit deep, which is about the depth of our soil ; above every spit of soil 

 is laid a layer of manure, so that the whole soil to the depth trenched is incor- 

 porated therewith from top to bottom. This operation is generally performed 

 in autumn. In spring all the night-soil about the place is spread over the sur- 

 face of the soil, to which is added both soot and gas-lime. These are all dug in 

 with steel forks, and the ground lies over till dry and fit for the seed being 

 sown. That crop having been sown, grown, ripened, and gathered by the 

 second week in September, the ground is dug over without any manure, and 

 the Strawberry plants planted from the nursery-beds. It depends a great deal 

 upon the quality of the fruit and the size of the berry at what distances the 

 plants ought to be planted. The smaller-growing varieties, including Black 

 Prince, we generally plant in 4-feet beds, planting seven lines in each bed, and 

 allowing 6 inches between each plant. By planting thus in early autumn, we 

 generally manage to get fully a half crop during the first season. Other varie- 

 ties we plant 2^ feet between the rows, and 1 foot plant from plant. These 

 distances we consider wide enough for all practical purposes, while if much 

 closer they would become too crowded — so much so, that it might tell injuri- 

 ously against the size and quality of the fruit. Where fruit of the highest 

 quality is desired, the finer kinds and larger-fruiting sorts ought to be employed. 

 To allow them every facility for development, they ought to be planted from 

 2i to 3 feet apart every way, and never allowed to form rows, but kept in stools 

 or separate plants, with at least 1 foot of free space, so that the light and air 

 may freely circulate about them in all directions. In this way finer fruit is 

 generally produced than by any other method, and the quantity will often bear 

 very favourable contrast with those grown upon any other plan. The planting 

 having been comj^leted, the after-cultivation becomes the next matter for con- 

 sideration. The smaller- growing varieties are allowed to ramble at will until 

 the bed has become a comi)lete mass of fruit-bearing plants. The alleys are all 

 kept free, to allow of an open passage for gathering the fruit and cleaning the 

 weeds away. Our reasons for this mode of cultivation are, that we get a crop 

 of fruit more quickly, and that these varieties bear best, as a rule, during the 

 first two or three years of their existence. The larger-growing kinds requii-e 



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