Jane 29, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



SOI 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



STRAWBERRY FORCING. 



^S^^ REPARATIONS must be made for the next 

 year's supply as soon as the last dishes of 

 Strawberries ai'e gathered from the late-forced 

 or protected plants. A gardener's life is a re- 

 gular round of proparatioue, and, as a rule, he 

 wlio succeeds the best is he who looks ahead 

 the farthest and commences his preparations 

 for a given crop a few days or week before 

 the orthodox time usually calendered for 

 " making a start." A good start is the first 

 element in winning the race. " Start early and keep 

 plodding on regularly. Be master of the time and not its 

 slave," was once the advice given to me by one of the 

 best of gardeners. I have proved its value. When I 

 have failed — as most have failed — in producing a given 

 crop in the best manner, it has usually been tbe result of 

 a " bad start " — ttartiog late aud trusting to extra subse- 

 quent endeavours to make up for lost time. True there 

 is such a thing as being " too fast," but that hardly applies 

 to the work of Strawberry-forcing. I have endeavoured 

 to be as fast as possible, but have never had good crops 

 of Strawberries too soon, and, in fact, could never produce 

 them soon enough, except by starting early and then 

 giving extra— that is, tbe best — attention in my power in 

 perfecting aud maturing the plants. When one does 

 this and finds it necessary for success there is no room 

 fur deferring at the outset and trusting to extra care to 

 bring up arrears. 



In Strawberry-forcing there is, as a celebrated parlia- 

 mentary orator has so often put it, " three things I wish to 

 caU attention to." These "three things" in the Straw- 

 berry decalogue resolve themselves into three earlies 

 which must be provided to find a fourth — early runners, 

 early potting, and early maturing. By producing these, 

 and by no other means that I am acquainted with, can 

 the fourtli be found — namely, early fruit. Suppose now, 

 by way of fixing the matter on the memory, that I step 

 at once from the three earlies which are essential to three 

 lates which are desirable. The runners, then, should be 

 in their fruiting pots late in June, be matured late in 

 October, and produce, if required, ripe fruit late in 

 January. 



Early potting is of the first importance, and to have 

 ftuit at the earliest possible date the platts must not 

 only be in their fruiting pots by the time named, but 

 they must be stout and sturdy plants. This season the 

 runners are later than usual, and it is only those who 

 have vigorous young plants who will be able to have 

 runners establiohed in good time. Old plants do not 

 throw out runners so soon as do young plants, neither 

 are they so vigorous and fine. The practice, therefore, 

 of p anting a bed of trtr.iwberries annually in July is 

 ■urged as a useful practice — useful t,s affordiog early and 

 fine runners for furciug, and aUo fine trusses of fruit. 

 Runners, too, which are taken from young plants, are 

 not drawn in their early stages by a mass of surrounding 

 foliage — a matter of the greatest moment, for it weakened 



No. 796.-VOL. XXX., New Series. 



and drawn during the first few weeks after becoming 

 plants they cannot form robu.st and fruitful crowns in tlie 

 short season during which they must be perfected aud 

 matured. Runners, then, must be rooted early under 

 full exposure to light and air, so that they are dwarf 

 sturdy plants with their leaves spread horizontally in- 

 stead of long lanky plants with uprigbt leaves and semi- 

 blanched petioles. 



There are various ways of rooting the runners with 

 the object of gaining time and saving labour. Some rout 

 their runners in their fruiting pots on the principle of 

 preventing a cheek by subsequently potting them. I do 

 not think that that is the best plan, and for two reasons 

 — first, the soil must be made so firm that the roots aro 

 not emitted freely and quickly ; and fecond, because when 

 the pots are necessarily spread over a large space of 

 ground watering cannot be carefully done, and while the 

 soil in Borne pots will be too dry, that in others may 

 become four by extreme wet. Much experience has told 

 me that any one of the three following modes is better 

 than that above mentioned. Layer the runners in small 

 pots of moderately firm but rich liglit soil. The best 

 compost which I have found for quick rooting has been 

 compo.sed of equal parts of loam, sweet decayed manure, 

 and crushed charcoal. The pots must only be filled to 

 within half an inch of the rims, othsrwise sufficient water 

 cannot be afforded the plants in hot weather. That is 

 a trifling matter to mention, but it is by attending to 

 "small details" that success is attained, and that, as an 

 eminent man once said, is " no trifle." The next modo 

 is to spread .3 inches cf similar soil over the surface of 

 the ground and peg the runners into it, transferring them 

 when rooted into the fruiting pots. That is a good plan 

 if care is taken to peg the runners thinly. A third mode 

 also good — very good — is to peg each runner to a separate 

 bit of freshly-dug turf about 3 inches in diameter, pre- 

 viously watering the turves with tolerably strong manure 

 water. Roots are freely emitted into these enriched sta- 

 tions, which can bo placed in the fruiting pots with little 

 or no mutilation or disturbance of the roots of the plants. 

 After trying all the three modes I prefer the first and the 

 last. The turves should be partially sunk in the soil to 

 reduce watering — indeed their advantage is in saving 

 watering and rendering one independent of a careless 

 waterer. 



The final potting is an important operation. The plants 

 must be in a good state, tbe soil must be of a sound 

 "wearing" character, aud the work of potting must be 

 well done. As soon as the small pots are fairly filled or 

 the turves permeated with roots tbe plants must be placed 

 in the fruiting pots. There must be no approach to being 

 potbound or a dense matting of the roots before the final 

 potting, or a check will be given which cannot be afforded ; 

 a steady uninterrupted growth is indispensable to an early 

 perfecting of the plants. 



The best soil that i have found for growing the plants iu 

 is furf which has been pared from good heavy land, and laid 

 up in the autumn, spreading between every third layer ff 

 turf a layer of rich manure and a sprinkling of soot. This is 



No 1448.— Vol. LV., Old Series. 



