September 4, 187S. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



171 



I was veiy pleased to see in a former number of your Journal 

 that Dr. Eoden was bringing his new seedling Strawberries to 

 the front. I can fully corroborate his remarks respecting them, 

 as 1 have had an opportunity of seeing them growing, and I 

 feel quite satisfied that they will be valuable additions to our 

 varieties of Strawberries. I have not the least hesitation in 

 saying that when they become public they will cause a good 

 many of our old varieties to be swept out of the garden. Dr. 

 Roden is a gentleman who has devoted a great deal of time, 

 attention, and study, to cultivating and improving the Straw- 

 berry, and it is very gratifying to think that he is again re- 

 warded with some valuable seedlings. — J. Andeesox, The 

 Giirdeiis, Hill Groif, KitUhrmhistfr. 



Mr. LixKnuRST seems to me somewhat to beg the question, 

 when he thinks his standard of quality with regard to Straw- 

 berries must be higher than mine. I am not accustomed to 

 put a low standard of perfection with regard to anything, 

 either fruit, flowers, or otherwise ; and as the Strawberries I 

 alluded to have be3n seen and tasted by many persons well 

 qualified to give an opinion, and I have never heard but one 

 opinion expressed with regard to them, I still adhere to what 

 I before said, that Strawberry beds may, under proper cul- 

 tivation, be made to bear fruit of high quality and in great 

 quantity for several years in succession. I took fruit from 

 these beds two years ago to Dr. Hogg, when I happened to be 

 going up to London to him on a visit, and he pronounced them 

 to be as fine as any he had seen exhibited at the London fruit 

 shows, and I have seen no deterioration in these same beds, 

 either in quantity or quality, these last two seasons. So much 

 for the question as to standard of excellence. 



When Strawberry beds become old and exhausted, it is 

 because the runners are allowed to grow, and the beds are 

 matted together so that the crowns are injured. 



Strawberries on beds are not produced from the runners of 

 the previous year, but from the crowns, and every inducement 

 should be made for the crowns to make strong offsets, not 

 mnners. A strong crop of fresh leaves caused by hoeing and 

 manuring among Strawberries now, will not in my opinion im- 

 prove the fruiting of the beds next year ; in fact, as a general 

 rule, the crop of fruit is in almost inverse proportion to the 

 leaves, especially if there is much growth of foliage either late 

 in autumn or very early in spring, so that, although Mr. Luck- 

 hurst's argument seems to be a strong one, I am obliged to 

 differ in loto from his conclusions. If Mr. Luckhurst's plan 

 be followed, of course old beds will wear out. All I am wishing 

 to argue for is, that under other treatment the growth of the 

 crowns is renewed without a crop of runners, and that manure 

 is applied to the plants after the crowns have matured, and 

 the roots appropriate the manure to feed the flower and fruit, 

 and not the foliage. We should succeed very indifl'erently 

 with most fruits if our attention were turned to supply vigorous 

 leaves and wood-growth, though, as in everything else, the 

 happy mean is the riglit one. I prefer the application of 

 mulching to protect my plants during the winter, and to con- 

 tinue the root action, and not depend upon leaves for pro- 

 tection, which in our north country are not to be depended 

 upon ; and, as I have before said, I do not care how few leaves 

 I see upon my plants when the season for spring growth com- 

 mences. 



Of coarse, in venturing to dispute the recognised and stereo- 

 typed treatmont of Strawberries, I lay myself open to the 

 remarks which Mr. Luckhurst makes, but I should not have 

 written the article Mr. Luckhurst alludes to had I not equally 

 based my conclusions on practical experience. I do not wish, 

 however, to be misunderstood. I have no desire to find fault 

 with the recognised system of renewing Strawberry beds ; I 

 only wish to assert that good fruit can be grown with the 

 other system, and this was the reason why I ventured to dis- 

 pute Mr. Luckhurst's assertion, that old beds always produced 

 fruit of a paltry description. — G. P. I'each. 



TcE columns of the Journal have lately been unusually rich 

 in Strawberry lore, and the varied points touched on by dif- 

 ferent growers one would fancy would enable anyone having 

 a garden to enjoy a supply of this estimable fruit. Mr. Luck- 

 hurst can evidently make Strawberries grow anywhere, and 

 with such soil as he works on I am not surprised at his ad- 

 vocacy of treating them as biennials, and I feel quite sure 

 that on his particular kind of soil he can so obtain more fruit 

 than by any other means. Mr. Peach has evidently more 

 ■" body " in his soil to hold them on as perennials ; so have I, 



if I never dig and top-dress continually ; yet, with early and 

 good plants and a good season, I can get better fruit off plants 

 a year old than any other. 



But we must take seasons into account, and act accordingly. 

 For instance, the rainfall in the gai'den under my charge tor 

 the months of June, July, and up to August 17tli is only 

 3. -10 inches, an unclouded sun prevailing nearly the whole 

 time. This, and a limestone base many feet in thickness, keep 

 me from digging up my yearlings. So, also, I must let alone 

 some two-year-olds, and by thinning the crowns slightly, and 

 always keeping the surface of the ground covered, I expect a 

 useful crop. Thus do seasons upset pre-arranged plans. The 

 weather cannot be ignored, and a mere rule-of-thumb practice 

 can never be relied on in sj)ite of it. To make the best use of 

 the best advice, it must be taken subject to weather contingen- 

 cies and local expediency. Scores of people cannot if they 

 would turn a dry season into a wet one by the watering-can, 

 and yearling plants cannot be fine without plenty of moisture 

 and support to carry them to maturity without interruption. 

 Therefore I see no inconsistency, but the reverse, in advising 

 the digging-up plants one season and letting them remain 

 another if weather-changes demand it. They demand it now, 

 and I shall not grub up hastily, and advise others similarly 

 circumstanced to hesitate also ; and the warning may be use- 

 ful, considering the advice — excellent at the time and in itself 

 — that has been given by different growers. 



I note what has been said against Vicomtesse Huricart de 

 Thury. I recommend it because I find it early and free-bear- 

 ing, and not for its high flavour, yet its sparkling sub-acidity 

 is enjoyed by many palates. I know something recommends 

 it by the many applications I have for " runners." Anything 

 distinctly early or decidedly late in Strawberries is always a 

 desideratum, and if we can only get the fruit there will be 

 no great fight as to nice points in flavour. We cannot net 

 them up like Gooseberries and Currants, and prolong the 

 season. 



I am glad to see what Mr. Douglas says ; kindly differences 

 are always instructive. He wonders, and with, no doubt, good 

 reason, that anyone should grow Elton as a late kind, while 

 Frogmore Late Pine is so much superior. I am not quite sure 

 whether I have had the true Frogmore, but, at any rate, such 

 as I had would hardly grow or fruit at all. The plants were 

 not from a sturdy stock, and I am fully sure that growing 

 Strawberries of unhealthy parentage is terribly uphill-work. 

 As to Dr. Koden, I can say no more than that he and the 

 artist make one's mouth water. — J. Wbigdt. 



POTATOES AS THEY ARE.— No. 2. 



NoRTHAMPTONSHiEE. — In answcr to your inquiry respecting 

 Potatoes, I am very pleased to give you a favourable report. I 

 have about thirty varieties planted, and have found very few 

 diseased. My plan is, whenever I see the "fatal " spots, which 

 generally come in small patches, to cut off the tops immediately. 

 I hold that small sound Potatoes are preferable to large diseased 

 ones. The yield this season is astonishing — fine, clean, and 

 large tubers, and many of them of first-rate quality. Among 

 the best is old Lapstone Kidney, an enormous cropper in well- 

 worked land ; Bresee's King of the Earlies, Excelsior Kidney, 

 Bresee's Climax, are also of first-rate quality. We have already 

 lifted some tons of the earlier varieties, such as Veitch's Koyal 

 Ashleaf and Hogg's Coldstream ; the latter, when true, is all 

 that can be wished, but it requires careful selection yearly. 

 Early Rose is also capital this season, but not of the quality of 

 those mentioned, still when they have to be supplied in large 

 quantities it is not to be ginimbled at. Primer, one sent here by 

 my friend, Mr. Johnson, Saveruake, is a first-class one, being of 

 good even size, a prodigious cropper, and of fine quality. Late 

 varieties I have not yet tried, btit will send word about them iu 

 due time. — R. Gllbebt, Burg)diij Kitchen Gardens, Slamford. 



CniTswoBTH, Debbvshire. — The Potato crop is magnificent 

 in my immediate neighbourhood, the finest crop that has been 

 seen since 18-15 ; but I regret to say the continual wet of the 

 past fortnight has had the effect of bringing on the disease 

 slightly, and I fear it will get worse if the weather do not take 

 up at once. The rains have been accompanied by thunder 

 generally. — Thomas Speed, TJie Gardens, Chatsworth. 



KiuKCALDY, FiFESHiKE. — The Potato disease is certainly 

 showing itself ; here and there patches of spotted leaves are be- 

 ginning to appear, but no word of disease at present. The crop, 

 is very heavy, and of excellent quality. — Peter Eintoul, liaith 

 Gardens. 



BANEFsnmE, Scotland. — The disease, I am sorry to state, 

 has made its appearance where the crop is much shaded or 

 growing in cold, stiff, wet land ; but where growing exposed, 



