Jol; le, 1868. 1 



JOURNAL OF UORTIOULT0RE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



37- 



THE STRAWBERRY, AND ITS CULTURE. 



' EVER was there a drier or more trying season 

 for the Strawberry, and, it might be added 

 with equal truthfulness, never were Straw- 

 berries better in gi'owth, llavour, and abun- 

 dant produce. The vigorous appearance of 

 the foliage and the splendid crop of berries, 

 convey to us a most useful lesson as to the 

 great importance of deep culture for the suc- 

 cessful production of fine crops of this the 

 most delicious of hardy fruits, and as most 

 decidedly necessary to enable them to withstand so dry a 

 season as the present. What a season it is for the fidl 

 development of flavour ! Surely if a variety fails to " tickle 

 the palate " this year it is Ixigh time it were discarded, 

 or, if not discarded altogether, only grown in a more 

 suitable climate ; for I am well aware that in discussing 

 the individual merits of fruits, as well as of flowers, it is 

 wrong to make sweeping assertions, and to say, " Well, 

 I have tried such a variety under diflerent aspects, and 

 have bestowed the most skilful treatment on it, and yet it 

 fails in approaching sufficiently to the degree of merit 

 wliich would entitle it to be kept ; it must, therefore, be 

 condemned," when, very likely, the same kind may be met 

 with elsewhere good in every respect. 



To cultivate Strawbei-ries successfully is not by any 

 means a difficult matter, nor does it require any great 

 amount of skill, yet there are a few points wliich must be 

 closely attended to, otherwise but poor results will follow. 

 No plant will bear a greater amount of iU-treatment, hence 

 the miserable samples of fruit which are so frequently to 

 be met with ; and, again, no plant will better repay the 

 cultivator for the small amount of care and labour which 

 is requisite to produce healthy vigorous plants, and, con- 

 sequently, iine fruit. Sometime ago I remember being 

 amused, as I strolled along a certain gi-ass walk over- 

 shadowed by the boughs of fruit trees, by the person wlio 

 accompanied me exclaiming, as he pointed to a Strawberry 

 border on either side of the walk, of which the plants pre- 

 sented a most diminutive appearance, " These are our 

 Strawberry beds." " Ah I " said I ; " and how old may 

 they be ? " " Why," said he, " Master says they are thirty 

 years old." And as I afterwards discovered, the owner of 

 the place was very fond of and most enthusiastic concern- 

 ing his Pines, Grapes, and orchard-house fruit, hut he did 

 not care for Strawberries ; and certainly I thouglit if he 

 never tasted any but the fruit produced by his own vene- 

 rable beds, it is not unlikely he might continue of the 

 same opinion. 



The mode of culture which is followed here difl'ers but 

 slightly from others which h.ave been advocated in the 

 pages of this Journal, yet as the results attained are all 

 that can be wished, it may be worth while to give the 

 particulars. 



The beds are prepared by trenching the soil IS inches 

 deep, and properly incorporating a good layer of well- 

 rotted dung and charcoal, or coal ashes, with the upper 

 portion of the soil. Early planting is of the greatest im- 



No. 381.— Vol. XV, New Sebies. 



portance ; the young runners are therefore encouraged to 

 emit roots by stirring a trowelful of leaf mould among 

 the soil for each plant, into which the off'set will quickly 

 root. Early in July, or at the latest in the beginning of 

 August, as soon as the plants are ready for removal, they 

 are separated from the parents, and planted in the pre- 

 pared beds. The rows are 2 feet apart, and the plants 

 1 foot apart in the rows. I have seen it advised to have 

 the rows but 1 foot apart, and to remove each alternate 

 row after the first year's fruiting ; but this is a mistake, 

 because it is found that young plants in rows 2 feet apart 

 ripen their fruit very much earlier than those more thickly 

 planted; and this is a great advantage, as then the two 

 and three-year-old plants which have the fruit over- 

 shadowed by their more vigorous foliage form a nice suc- 

 cession to the yearling plants. 



Immediately after the fruit is all gathered, a line is 

 stretched on each side of the rows, so as to just touch the tips 

 of the leaves ; the runners are then separated with a spade, 

 and the alleys only are cleared. If any young plants have 

 taken root between the parent plants, as will most likely be 

 the case, they are permitted to remain. As much dung as 

 can be covered is then forked in, and the plants at once 

 commence to grow vigorously, the fresh young roots greedily 

 feeding on the manure, so that by the autumn the rows 

 are one mass of green healthy foliage. This treatment is 

 continued in the following season, and after the third crop 

 of fruit is taken, the plants are hoed-up, as they are found 

 to decline in vigour after the third year. 



Two waterings of liquid manure are given in the year . 

 the first soon after tlie plants exhibit signs of activity in 

 the spring, and the second as the fruit commences to swell. 

 These are no mere surface-wettings, but thorough root- 

 waterings. If the plants are growing in a well-manured 

 loamy soil of a sufficient depth, no further waterings are 

 necessary ; but to plants on a shallow soil, or one of a very 

 sandy nature, additional waterings are not only highly 

 beneficial, but are absolutely necessary to success in dry 

 seasons, if fruit of good quality and of fair size is required. 

 From experience I should say it is very advisable only to 

 use liquid manure at every second or third watering, clear 

 water to be used at all other times ; for although the con- 

 stant application of a liquid manure may cause the fruit to 

 gain something in size, yet any addition to the size of 

 fruit wliich is attained in this way is decidedly at the 

 expense of flavour, and in this opinion I believe I am home 

 out by the decision of the judges at the late metropolitan 

 exhibitions in the case of fruit, in the production of which 

 sewage had been freely used. 



In the selection of materials for preventing the fruit from 

 coming in contact with the soil, pebbles, or any rank grass 

 or rushes wliich may be obtainable, answer very well ; but 

 where notliing of the kind is to be liad, common draining 

 tiles, of about 2 inches in diameter and 1 foot long, placed 

 side by side, do admirably, and are much better than flat 

 tiles or slates, as tliey admit the rain freely to the soil, 

 Roberts's patent Strawberry tiles are also very useful, but 

 they are best adapted to support the fruit of single plants. 

 Whatever material be used, it ought certainly to quite 



No. 10S3.— Vol. XL., Old ! 



