50 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February, 



ley apple trees looked very badly rusted, the 

 leaves dropping off; many of them were dead 

 outright, while other trees in the same or- 

 chard looked green and healthy. I fear the days 

 of the Shockley — in the South at least — are num- 

 bered. It promised to be the best late apple 

 ever introduced in the South, and I have seen 

 some very fine ones this fall ; but from the way 

 the trees are decaying in various places that I 

 have seen, even before the dry weather set in, I 

 would not plant another tree of it, or advise any 

 of my friends to do so. 



FORCING STRAWBERRIES IN POTS. 



BY WALTER COLES, GARDENER TO J. I. BLAIR, ESQ., 

 BELVIDERE, N. J. 



"P. F.," Jersey City, N. J., in your November 

 Gardener's Monthl-s;, asks for a few hints on 

 strawberry forcing, which no doubt will be in- 

 teresting to most readers of this paper. I willstate 

 the method I have most successfully fruited them. 

 The first thing is to get a mixture of soil three 

 parts good rotted sod, previously cut from an 

 old pasture and one part well rotted manure thor- 

 oughly mixed. Fill as many three inch pots as 

 the required number of plants you wish to force, 

 sink them to their rims alongside of the rows 

 from which you propose to obtain your plants ; 

 this should be done as early as possible, for in 

 this earliness depends the success. Layer the 

 young runners into the three inch pots; keep them 

 well watered, and in about three weeks they will 

 be rooted nicely. Be careful only to have one 

 plant in a pot, as one plant produces better results 

 than two or three. As soon as the small pots 

 are filled with roots, they are ready to be potted 

 into six inch pots which I consider the most 

 suitable. They should be potted with the soil 

 above described, rather firm. Then stand them 

 in a open, airy situation; never allow them to get 

 dry,but encourage them to make as much growth 

 as possible, so as to get the six inch pots well 

 filled with roots. If not well filled with roots 

 before the end of the season j'ou might as well 

 throw your strawberry plants away as to attempt 

 to force them. If it is convenient, after the plants 

 are potted they had better be plunged to the rim 

 in sawdust, coal-ashes or waste tanbark, which 

 will keep the plants moist. Be careful not 

 to plunge them or place them anywhere for the 

 worms to get through the bottom of the pots. 

 Leave the plants in this open situation until tne 

 middle of November. Then they should be put 



in a cold frame, the pots plunged to their rims 

 ! in some light material, or an old hotbed pit, filled 

 ' with dry leaves would do as long as it keeps the 

 roots from freezing, and so they can" be got at 

 I easily at any time for the forcing department. 

 The ashes should be put on to keep the plants 

 from severe freezing, but air should be admitted 

 I on all favorable occasions to keep them as cool 

 , as possible, for one should imitate nature as near 

 as possible; therefore, the plants should be in 

 j their dormant state at this time. Now the time 

 1 of introducing the first lot of plants to heat will 

 be considered with due regard to the time when 

 ' ripe fruit is expected. 



j If wanted by the first of March, the first lot 

 I had better be brought in about December loth 

 or 20th, into a heat not exceeding 45° or 50°; 

 about this temperature should be maintained 

 until the fruit is set. After the berries are set 

 the temperature may be increased to 60° by 

 night and 80° by day, with sun heat, with plenty 

 i of moisture. The plants should be liberally 

 ! watered with liquid manure while they are 

 swelling their fruit. As soon as the fruit begins 

 to color, less water should be applied and more 

 air ; it makes the fruit firmer and better flavored. 

 Of course a batch can be brought in every two 

 weeks in succession. We are not yet done with 

 those forced plants, for if planted out in the 

 I garden in April, and all the runners kept pinched 

 off, they will fruit again in autumn, when a dish 

 of strawberries would be very acceptable. I 

 have forced many hundred strawberries every 

 year, for eight years, until this year. But here, I 

 am sorry to say, we have not the room or con- 

 veniences. 

 I ■ 



I FRUIT NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



BY C. M., RYDE, ISLE OF WIGHT. 



I have been interested in your American fruits 

 and have obtained many sorts for trial in the 

 past few years. I have a good stock of them 

 now, and next season hope to fruit quite a num- 

 ber of them. Of strawberries I am much pleased 

 with the Boyden. Some that I had in pots last 

 season forced well, fruited freely, and the fruit 

 was very fine. The Cumberland Triumph also 

 promises well. But T am disappointed in Charles 

 Downing, The fruit was very small, which sur- 

 prised me, for, from what I had read of it, I had 

 formed the idea that the fruit was of good size. 

 The peaches promise very well. The Alexan- 

 der's Early gave me a few fruits last season, as 

 also did the Oldmixon — the latter very late in 



