ScptemlMT 8, 1869 



JOURNAL OP HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENKB. 



179 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



ol 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 



SEPTEMBER 3-8, ie69. 



Th 

 F 



8 



SOS 



M 



To 



W 



Worksop Horticultural Show. 



13 SOKDAY iPTER TRINITY. 



[ilid Generi] Mcetina. 



Koytil Fnrliciil'nral Saci^tv, Fruit, Fliir-1. 



Royal Caledonian Horticultiir"! Snciety's 



[■ihnw opens. 



Sun 



Seta. 



^Toon 

 E^sen. 



m. h. 

 44a{6 

 43 6 

 41 6 

 S7 <i 

 Si 6 



m. b. 

 I6af 



Moon I Moon's 

 beta. Age. 



m. ta. 

 33 af 4 

 11 5 



Days. 



•26 



27 



SB 



29 



• 

 1 

 2 



riooit 



at-r 

 ^u^. 



82 

 61 



2 10 

 a 30 



"o7 



Year. 



?4i 



■248 

 247 



■.(48 

 24J 

 •251 

 231 



From observations taken near London during tho last forty-two yearP, the averasre day »«"P«™*"« °' *''° "f * ."f '» f 

 temierature 47.8°. The greatest heat was 80% on the 8lli, 1865; and the lowest cold 28°, on the 7th, 18aa. The gioale=,t 

 0.7J inch. 



and its nieht 

 fall of rain was 



ALPINE STRAWBERRIES. 



N flavour and size of fniit these are iint com- 

 mentlable, but tlimigh ihe flavour is not high, 

 and tlie size what we must call sraaU, they 

 aflbrd a plentiful supply, and of longer coa- 

 finuance than any otiier hind of Strawberry ; 

 indeed the S'rawberry season may be said to 

 be over when the Alpines are coming in 

 plentifully, and on that account alone they 

 have a claim to our attention. And they 

 have other claims. First, the flavour is pe- 

 culiar — a sort of acidity that is not distasteful, hut refresh- 

 ing, more Si« than th-at of any other kind of fruit, always 

 excepting the Cherry. ISeoondly, the birds do not attack 

 them so much as otlier fruits; very few at most seem to 

 satisfy them. Thirdly, they are the only kinds that can 

 be depended on for autumn fruiting. I have had plants 

 that began bearing in July producing fine fruit up to 

 Christmas in a mild autumn and winter. The Perpetual 

 Pine has lost its perpetual or autumn-fruiting qualities, 

 at least, so far as I have experience, and the fact is con- 

 firmed by others; hence the value of the Alpine as an 

 autumn and siiccessional fruit to the kinds generally culti- 

 vated. Fourthly, a dish of Red or White Alpines set up 

 with their own leaves is not less pretty than a pile of 

 huge Goliiiths. I think them very pretty, and even for 

 ornament alone a good addition to the dessert. 



The best plants are those raised from seed. They are 

 more vigorous, less liable to sufier from drought, are 

 more continuous-bearing, and more to be depended on for 

 autumn supply. The best plants I ever had were from 

 seed distributed by the Royal Horticultural Society ten or 

 eleven years ago. Plants from runners are of too weak 

 growth, the fruit after the first picking becoming small, 

 and the runners they produce do not keep up the succes- 

 sional and autumn supply. With some sorts of Alpine 

 Strawberries pro|)agation by runners must be practised, aa 

 it is a ready mode, and all cannot have seed ; besides, in 

 seed-saving, the finest and best fruit must be sacrificed; 

 but considering that plants from seed are the best, and 

 bear the finest fruit both in summer and autumn, I strongly 

 recommend this mode of propagation. In sowing seed we 

 do not run the same ri.'>k of perpetuating plants which 

 yield but small fruit, or are shy bearers, as we do when 

 ta'iing runners from a bed in wliich there are various de- 

 grees of vigour, size of fruit, and continuance of bearing. 

 The plants propagated by runners seem to become weaker, 

 and for anything I know may sink to an equality with the 

 plants on a liedge bank. By taking the fruit of the most 

 vigorous and most continuous-bearing plants, and sowing, 

 we obtain plonts fully equal to the parents; in no case 

 have I known them inferior, for it is not species which 

 run into «ll scrts of forms, and give so many useless ones,' 

 though there are at times great results, but the cross- 

 breds. Not only do Alpine Strawberries come true from 

 seed, but every gtnerati(m shows a marked improvement 

 in the majority of the ofl'spring, and it is by this progres 



fruit of the size and flavour of such kinds as Black Prince, 

 if not of Coekseomb. Autumn production and incrt-^ised 

 size of fruit from plants raised from seed, are not peculiar 

 to the Alpine Strawhwrry alone ; the autumn-fruiting rasp- 

 berry is influenced in the same way. Tlio seedlings are 

 in most instances fiuer thati the parent, none, or few, 

 producing inferior fruit. 



The Alpine Strawberry succeeds best in soil overlying 

 gravel, limestone, or in those medium textured loams tbat 

 are neither heavy nor light, and have an open subsoil from 

 which superfluous water passes away freely. 



In light, open soils, Alpine Strawberries succeed with 

 copious^ waterings in dry weather after they come into 

 flower, and during bearing; but in heavy wet soils tliey do 

 not thrive, at least, they do not with me The plants are 

 apt to go off' in winter, and in soils of this liind I have 

 f,mnd a raised bed advantageous. It may be formed of 

 any kind of rough material, raarl<ing out a space about 

 8 feet wide, and raiding, about a foot high in the centre, a 

 mound of stones or gravel, which is coveicd with a foot 

 thick of soil. This may consist of two parts loam, neither 

 heiwy nor light, enriched with ime part of well .mtted ma- 

 u„re— old cow dung is best. All round I place brick-i on 

 edge, alternately headers and stretchers ; and when I have 

 foi-m'ed a row all round, I have cavities which are fiUed' 

 with anil level with the upper sides of tho bricks. I 

 then place another row or tier of bricks as before, and so 

 on to the top, or until the bricks from both sides meet in 

 the centre of the mound. It may seetn strange to employ 

 bricks for such a purpose, and it may be thoiiglit that a 

 raised mound would answer just as well. It does not. 

 however; fir the plants cannot he so well watered, the 

 water running awav too quickly by the surface, and this is 

 prevented by "the brick terraces, and the bricks keep, the 

 fruit from darapinsr, as it is apt to do in autumn fiom the 

 frequent rains. The spaces for the plants formed by the 

 bricks are filled with soil, and one plant is planted in each. 

 The situation should be open, and the ends of the bed 

 ought to be north and south. In such a bed the plants 

 continue bearing until lato in autumn. Alpine Auriculas 

 in heavy soils are quite at home in beds of this description, 

 and Parsley thrives where, from the wetness and coldness 

 of the soih'it is often not to be had in winter when most 

 wanted. In most soils, however, such contrivances are 

 not required, all that is needed being a good trenching, and 

 manure liberally worked in. A border or bauU facing 

 south is not good, the plants grow best on an east border ; 

 on a north border they succeed very well for summer fruit- 

 ing, and an open spot with the lines running north and 

 south answers verv well. 



The seed should be sown in February or the beginning 

 of March in a shallow box or pan. well drained, and filled 

 with a compost of two parts loam and one part leaf mould, 

 covering lightlv with fine soil. Place the pan in a gentle 

 heat of from 70° to 75°, keep moist and close until the 

 seedlings are up, then admit air, and keep them near the 

 glass ; when large enough to handle, pnck them ofl^ m 

 shallow boxps or pans, emploving a light loam, enriched 



sive improvement that I hope"to see the Alpine yielding i with one-third leaf mould. They should stand about an 



Ne. «a-Voi.. SVn., Kew Seeibs. Ho. lOM.-VOI.. XLH., OUJ SeuieS. 



