578 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 187 i. 



Strawberry Cultivation. 



Sir, — Eegarding your note appended to my paper in last month's 'Gardener' 

 upon the subject of Strawberry cultivation, I beg to say that what I wrote is exactly 

 what I was Jed to believe, by a conversation I had some time ago with the grower, 

 to be correct. I may say, however, that I did not inform him of my intention of 

 publishing the information, and that therefore he might not be particular to a 

 nicety regarding the figures. I have, however, seen the grower regarding the 

 matter, and I find that the figures I gave were all correct regarding the money 

 drawn and the quantity of ground occupied, but that I had either misunderstood 

 him or he had made a mistake in telling me, as the quantity pulled was consider- 

 ably lets than a ton. However, the other figures tend to prove that the crop 

 produced at the rate of £300 per Scotch acre, as stated in my article. 



James M'Millan. 



An Old Subscriber. — As your locality is unfavourable for keeping Grapes, 

 we cannot, as we otherwise would, recommend you to plant Black Hamburg, which 

 is available for December. The same applies to Mu?>cat Hamburg. These two 

 are the best black Grapes available for the season you name. But under your cir- 

 cumstances we recommend you to plant for black equal proportions of Alicante 

 and Black Lady Downes. As a white Grape, you cannot plant any Grape to 

 equal the Muscat of Alexandria. But if you think that under the circumstances 

 you would not be able to keep it, then plant equal proportions of Raisin de 

 Calabria, Trebbiana, and White Lady Downes, putting the Muscat, if you plant 

 it, and Trebbiana, at the hot end of your house. 



H. A. Stanhope. — Cut your Vines down to the bottom of the rafters, or to 

 the strong buds to which you refer. I agree with you that the thrashing theory 

 is an absurdity. 



Robert Dickie. — We presume you are referring to M'Intosh's ' Book of the 

 Garden.' It was published in 1855 by Messrs Blackwood. 



Wm. Kater. — We cannot but concur with the spirit of your veiy humorous 

 remarks, but are sure that you must agree with us in thinking that to publish 

 more on the subject at present would not be in any way for the interests of 

 gardening or gardeners. 



An old Gardener. — We have other communications besides yours on young 

 gardeners and overtime, but do not see what good can come of our publishing 

 more on the subject just now. We think the practice is dying out, and whoever 

 expects gardeners to work overtime without being properly paid for it, must be 

 regarded as nothing short of unkind and unjust to a class of men already in re- 

 ceipt of too low wages compared with other skilled workmen. 



Francis Booth. — Do not let the Daisies flower and seed, and weed them out 

 and fill up the places with fine soil, and sow the lawn with lawn seeds, which any 

 respectable seedsman can supply. There is no other way of getting rid of them. 

 Some soils are more favourable to them than others. 



J. B. Lawton, — Two parts rather heavy loamy soil, and one part well-decom- 

 posed cow-manure, will grow your Pansies well. It should be two feet deep. 

 Soil that has been twenty years in the bottom of a wood heap cannot be of 

 much use for plant-growing. 



J. Watson. — We do not know the history of Prince Albert Pine- Apple. Per- 

 haps some of our readers can supply the information. It is a very handsome 

 and excellent winter Pine. 



T. D. F. — Duly received, and will be published when space permits. 



Errata. — In "Notes of Gardens in Fife," page 520, line 6, for "Mr Hignett's," 

 read "Mr Hind's." — In "Seedling Pine-Apple," page 527, line 8 from foot, /or 

 "moderate-sized fruit," i^cad "moderate-sized crown." 



