July 18, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



41 



SELECTION OF 



STUAWBF-URrES 

 CL'LTUUIi. 



AND THEIR 



UT a fcfl' (lays ago I met at 

 Blaiidford the Rev. .Tosepli 

 Mansfield, Rector ofBlaml- 

 fonl St. Mary's, who occa- 

 sionally visits my garden. 

 Ho said, " I wish you would 

 UTite a treatise oii Stiavvborry culture, and' also give a 

 selection of Strawberries that are good and easy of culti- 

 vation in lands generally." I assured liirn that Mr. Undor- 

 liill's and Mr. Cuthill's treatises were excellent and amply 

 sufficient. StUl, as these maj- not be generally kno^\^l, it 

 may not be amiss to say a fe* words through a periodical 

 of wide cii'cidation. 



It is difficult to make a suit of clothes to fit the whole 

 species of man ; and it is not less so to select Strawberries 

 to siut every man's taste aaid mdely difi'erent circiuustanoes. 

 As regards tastes — one man lilces the Hautbois flavour ; 

 another Ukes a vinous juicy Strawberry ; anotlier prefers 

 an acidulated flavour ; another Ukes the Pine flavoiu' ; 

 another does not care what the flavoiu' is as long as he eaji 

 get quantity, plenty of sugar, and Alderney cream. My 

 taste is set to Hautbois, Piiie, and Alpine flavour. As 

 regai'ds soils, there is a great difl'erence between clay or 

 deep loams, and sandy or challg' soils like mine. Jlore- 

 over, as regards some sorts, aspect and situation (high or 

 low) make a tUfferencc. You vrHl see, then, by these cir- 

 cumstances and considerations what a difficult task lies 

 before me to make a suit of clothes wliich is to fit every- 

 body. I will, however, do my best. 



I •s\'ill coiumcnce by naming Strawberries of great excel- 

 lence, suitable only to first-class lands and painstaldng 

 cultivators. I doubt whether tlu;y can be depended upon 

 year after year in any land. 'When they succeed, you hear 

 of it : when they fail, people hold their tongues ! 1, Brit- 

 ish Queen and her synonjTnes, respectively in shape and 

 flavoiu', or both, Magnvrra Bonmn and La Chalonnaise ; 

 a, Carolina Superba ; :(, Filbert Pine : 4, La Constante ; 

 5, Myatt's Pine A|)ple ; 6, Crimson Queen. The last is 

 late, good, and the sm'est. 



I now come to Strawberries that do well for me and are 

 excellent for the piu'poses for which they are designed. 

 1, Sii' J. Paxton, the earliest that is good, a hardy plant, 

 great cropper, and handsome show fiiiit. 2, Eclipse, the 

 best early sort. 3. Rivers's EUza, delicious, and lasts a 

 whole season ; I never knew it fail fi'om any cause. 4, Tlie 

 Royal Hautliois, cropping well for the third season. 5, Scar- 

 let Pine, the liighcst-flavourod and most pined sort that 

 has ever been here ; the plants are stalwart, and resist 

 fi-ost and drought. 0, Johu Powell, good plant, good 

 cropper, good colour and fonn, and delicious, 7, Wonder- 

 No. 225.— Vol. IX., New Series. 



fill, a heavy cropper and very good ; it requii'es plenty of 

 water in a torrid summer, or it would become hard. 8, Era- 

 press Eugenie, large, handsome, a heavy cropper, and of 

 fair flavour, but not equal in flavour to some of the above. 

 i), JUcton White Pine, the best white : it is not ripe till it 

 is yellowish. 10, The Frogmore Late Pine, a noble late 

 sin-t, and liked here by aU. 11, The old Red and Wliite 

 iVlpiucs. These eleven sorts are on the whole the best 

 out of more than 1:J0 sorts that have been sent here for 

 trial. They seem to combine all that we want. If we can 

 get better of coiu'se we shall be glad, but in tlieii' dili'erent 

 liucs and seasons they '\\dll take some beating. If more 

 than these are desu-ed, these are good and good croppers, 

 but not equal to some of the above ; — President, Alice 

 Maude, Trollope's Victoria, Marquise de la Tour Mau- 

 bom'g. Marguerite, Ingram's Prince of Wales, and Sans- 

 pareil. 



The following arc on trial, planted late in the spring. 

 Of coiu-se, some allowance must be made. They were 

 Idndly sent by Mi'. Ingi'am, Her Majesty's gardener. The 

 Faii'y Queen is nicely coned, hanclsome, sweet, and de- 

 licious. The plants have stood the heat very well. More 

 I cannot say at present. It is a great favourite at Frog- 

 more. No. 10 is a strong and quick-gi'owing plant and 

 runs ii'eely. It -w'as pegged June U4th. Tlie berries are 

 coned, large, and handsome. It is late. jNIr. Ingram says 

 it vdil be superior to the Frogmore Late Pines. Its seeds 

 are prominent. I have a hea\w crop of noble Frogmore 

 Pines, by which I have tested it. It is delicious, and 

 though it is not so large or highly pined as the Frogmore 

 Pines it is sweeter. John Powell, the Frogmore Pines, the 

 Fau'y Queen, and No. 10 do gi'eat credit to the raiser. I 

 should, however, lilie to see the last two go through a 

 severe winter — a severer spring they could not encounter. 

 To the two former I wiil give a first-class certificate, as I 

 have had them here in scorching siunmers and severe 

 winters, and, what is ■\vorse, in a severe spring. I have 

 tills morning (July 5), received a land and complimentary 

 letter from Mr. Ingram, asking me to name it, and expres- 

 sing a wish to call it after me. I have no objection to its 

 bemg called ''Mr. Radclyfte," or " Rushtou Radclyfte " if 

 he like it better. The Rose called after me does mo great 

 honom', and this Strawberry wiU do no less. The.y are 

 both a credit to the raisers. I tlmik it safer to caU it the 

 above name than on limited trial to call it " Frogmore Pine 

 Improved." Time wiU prove tins. I beg to thank Mon- 

 sieur Verdier and Mr. Ingi'am for this liigli compliment. 



I now come to cultivation. There are very few culti- 

 vators of Roses and Strawberries in the kingdom. Even 

 those who manure them do little or nothing towards water- 

 ing them. 



1. Preparation of the Soil. — Whether land be light or 

 strong it should be trenched. Though Strawberries like 

 great moistm-e and heat they also like free drainage. If 

 water lies on the siu'face, and zero bites, the roots ^\■ill be 

 injured : and though the plants may flower well and set 

 theii' fruit, they will not complete their crop. Mter trench- 

 ing, the land should subside. Mine is light laud : and if 

 the land is di'y I beat it dov\'n with a spade to prevent 



No. 877.— Vol. XXXTV., Old Series. 



