June 7, 1877. i 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKB AND COTTAGE GARDKNER. 



417 



why the Primrose should not be raised to the rank of a florists' 

 flower. — G. Aeeey. 



STKAWBERRY FOECING.— No. 1. 



Although this subject has been pretty frequently written 

 npon, I consider it is yet far from being exhausted. The 

 Strawberry is such a popular fruit and so accommoJating in 

 its habits that amateurs may take up the forcing of it with 

 much certainty of success ; for their instruction especially I 

 will submit an account of my practice of raising the plants, 

 their growth and mode of forcing them. 



First, then, in order to have the plants well prepared, they 

 should be obtained as early as possible. The earliest runners 

 can generally be secured by the last week in June or early in 

 July, according to the season. The best and most forward 

 should be selected, and they are generally those nearest to 

 the parent plant. A number of small pots — say small fiO's, 

 representing rather more plants than are required to be potted- 

 on — should be filled with soil, such as leaf soil and loam 

 mixed together, placing a little of the roughest of the compost 

 in the bottom, with fine on the top, but no crocks this time. 

 Each little plant is fastened on to the surface with a peg made 

 from an old birch broom. I think pegging is better than 

 laying a stone upon the pot to keep the plants in their places. 

 A stone is so easily displaced, whereas a peg is a fixture. 

 After layering is done frequent attention to watering will be 

 necessary in order to induce the runners to emit roots as 

 quickly as possible. In about a fortnight or three weeks an 

 examination should be made to see if they are rooting well, 

 and when the pots are fairly full of roots tho runners connect- 

 ing the old and yonng plants may be severed, but if cut too 

 soon the check tbo young plants receive from being suddenly 

 deprived of nourishment from the old plant causes them to 

 flag, and I have noticed from time to time that those which 

 Bufier in that way do not make such good crowns in the 

 limited time for their growth as do those that receive no 

 check. When first removed it is well to place them in a 

 shaded place for a few days and to water them regularly, and 

 after a week or a little more the plants will be ready for potting. 

 It must now be determined what number are to be forced early, 

 because I am in the habit of using smaller pots for those, such 

 as large 48'8, or what some call small 32's, potting the others 

 in large 32's. This brings me to the sort of soil to be used. 



I like a firm soil, mostly good turfy loam, say two-thirds, 

 and the remainder decayed manure ; and if this has a little 

 lime and soot mixed with it, it kills all worms, and the soot 

 acts aa a manure also. The soil should be moderately dry, 

 the pots well drained, and the plants potted firmly. After 

 potting the plants should be arranged in beds for the con- 

 venience of watering and other necessary work, such as keep- 

 ing the runners cut off and weeds pulled out of the soil. A 

 layer of ashes forms a very good bottom upon which to place 

 the pots. The plants must not be allowed to root through 

 the bottom, to prevent which they must be moved occa- 

 sionally and re-arranged, and the ground be cleaned between 

 them. With this treatment the plants ought to form good 

 crowns by the autumn. I do not like to see double or treble 

 crowns, preferring plants with single, hard, and well-ripened 

 crowns. Towards tho autumn, when they have finished their 

 growth and while the crowns are forming, they will not 

 require so much water, but the Strawberry plant will not bear 

 to be kept dry at any time ; but at this stage they will need 

 more care in watering than is necessary earlier in the season. 

 As the plants grow they must have more space to allow the air 

 to circulate amongst them, and to prevent the foliage from 

 being drawn up. Worms do harm in the pots, and if they find 

 their way in, a watering with lime water occasionally will drive 

 them out ; they are apt, if suffered to remain, to sour the soil 

 and throw the plants into bad health. In watering during hot 

 days in snmmer take care that the leaves are not much wetted, 

 and occasionally the pots must be examined at the bottom to 

 make sure that the water passes through properly. 



In November, when sharp frosts are expected, the plants 

 must be placed in close quarters, but I object to their being 

 banked up against a building and laid on their sides, for there 

 is then no means of keeping the soil moist, and if it once 

 becomes thoroaghly dry the plants are rained. I have seen 

 some hundreds of plants cast aside as useless, which I believe 

 was caused by their having been too dry. It is not natural for 

 the Strawberry to be dry, as witness them in the open ground ; 

 and when Strawberries are grown-on fast, as these must be, 



the crowns are a long time in doing their work, and the roots 

 they have made must be kept in a fresh and healthy state. 



The following is the method I adopt in preserving them : — 

 Choose a high or dry spot where the water will pass off freely, 

 and make up a bed of rough litter, or leaves if they can be 

 obtained, about C feet wide and 18 inches high ; plunge the pots 

 into this quite up to the rims, and be sure and make all as 

 firm as possible. The pots may go close together, so as not to 

 take up much room. This bed will become moist with the 

 rains, and it will be found that the plants will do without 

 water, because the pots will absorb the moisture from the 

 bed. Occasionally turn two or three out of the pots to 

 see if the roots are in a fresh and healthy state ; if so, all is 

 right. The sorts should be arranged in rotation as they are 

 wanted to be taken for forcing ; and if thought best, the first 

 batch to be forced may be placed in a cold frame instead of 

 being plunged outdoors for the short time they would have to 

 remain. Those outdoors will require some protection in frosty 

 weather. I use common fern or brake, because it is light ; 

 and sometimes rough litter, which is also light. A thin layer 

 is sufficient to keep off a sharp frost, and may remain on for a 

 few days at a time, but it should be renewed when showing 

 signs of decay. — T. Kecoed. 



OLD ROSES. 



Being, I trust, " civilised," — as I ought to be after so many 

 years of service in an exemplary family and associated with 

 the Rose — yet I cannot fully comprehend the purport of the 

 utterances of your correspondent, who I hope is more than 

 worthy of his name of " Wyld Savage." 1 think he is, for 

 when a savage asks to be clothed and fed there is hope of his 

 reclamation; it is when he "helps himself" and spurns the 

 aid of the '' white man," as children of nature often unfor- 

 tunately do, that his condition is to be regretted, and he 

 commands one's pity. 



If I can read with sufficient clearness between the lines of 

 the letter on page 385 I perceive that your correspondent is a 

 " chief," and has been able to purchase such " lots of Boses " 

 that his " beds are full;" and I think, therefore, he can equally 

 afford to distribute them amongst the humbler members of his 

 tribe to aid in decorating the wigwams which may possibly be 

 found in his territory. 



I do not advise any to purchase the old Rose trees of your 

 correspondent. I can recommend as worthy of cultivation 

 several old Roses when young and healthy plants of them can 

 be obtained, but buying old trees is another matter quite. 



It is surprising how much good may be done by distributing 

 a few plants or flowers of any kind — the surplus of overstocked 

 gardens. I know of a clergyman whose stipend exceeds little, 

 if anything, my own moderate salary, who, conscious that he 

 cannot give that which many others are able to do, gives what 

 he can. He can strike Roses from cuttings and bud Briars, 

 raise quantities of Currant and Gooseberry trees, save flower 

 seeds and raise plants, and distribute them in his large parish. 

 The gifts are not great, but the providing of them affords 

 pleasure and congenial occupation to the giver, and wins for 

 him esteem that makes him " rich," not on " forty," but on 

 eighty " pounds a year." 



Rather than advise "Wild Savage" to sell his old Rose 

 trees I would suggest that he makes new beds for new sorts. I 

 have not one word to say against new Roses, for I am conscious 

 of their great beauty, and I cannot say how many years a few 

 — just a few — of new Roses have been added to the collection 

 in my care, but the old Roses have not been destroyed. The 

 result is that the garden is " full of Roses," and by-aud-by 

 they will be sent by huge hamperfuls to ft^tss, festivals, and 

 hospitals. That mode of spreading the Rose (and is it not 

 worth the doing?) could not be carried out if the old " trees " 

 were destroyed and new " plants " alone cultivated. 



We might as well, and with as much reason, destroy our old 

 Roses to make room for new as Mr. Turner might destroy that 

 glorious old Paul Perras which has won him such honours, and 

 Mr. Paul that gigantic Juno which was described in your re- 

 port of the Orleans Club Show as ■' perfection, and worthy of 

 being classed as one of the best of the season." When I 

 read of these marvellous Roses in pots and the admiration 

 which they evoke, I cannot see why similar splendid old Roses 

 and " trees " should be despised out of doors — in the garden. 

 Will " Wyld Savage " tell me why ? Hu has not done so yet. 

 He has replied in a pleasant bantering way, but has not what 

 we in Yorkshire term " tackled" the subject on its merits. 



