Book 1. 



STRAWBERRY. 



741 



learned the necessity of mixing the male plants with the others, by experience, in 1809 ; I had, before 

 that period, selected female plants only for my beds, and was entirely disappointed in my hopes of a crop. 

 In that year, suspecting my error, I obtained some male blossoms, which I placed in a bottle on the bed 

 of female hautboys. In a few days, I perceived the fruit near the bottle to swell ; on this observation, I 

 procured more male blossoms, and in like manner placed them in bottles, in differents parts of the beds, 

 removing the bottles to fresh places every morning, and by this means obtained a moderate crop where I 

 had gathered no fruit the preceding year. The duration of the hautboy, with me, seldom exceeds three 

 years." 



4724. The wood-strawberry is best raised from seed, " which I obtain from fruit just gathered, sowing 

 it immediately in a bed of rich earth. When the plants are of a proper size, I transplant them into other 

 beds, where I let them continue till the March following. They are then planted in rather a moist soil, 

 in beds, as the others, each row being two feet apart, and the plants in each row eighteen inches distant, 

 the alley between each bed being three feet wide : in this way I produce abundant crops of very fine 

 fruit. I have propagated this strawberry from runners, but never with such good success as from seeds, 

 particularly if the runners were taken from old roots. The duration of this strawberry, with me, seldom 

 exceeds two years." 



4725. The alpine strawberry must always be raised from seed, which should be sown in a bed of rich 

 earth, in the spring. " When the plants are of a proper size, which will be in July or August, I plant 

 them in rows at the back of hedges or walls, in a rich, or in a very moist soil : the rows should be two 

 feet apart, and the distance, from plant to plant, in the rows, twelve inches. My alpines, this year, thus 

 managed, are bearing most abundantly, so much so, that in gathering them there is not room for the 

 women to set their feet, without destroying many. The alpines differ from all other strawberries in 

 quickness of bearing ; for no other sort, sown in the spring of the year, will produce fruit, under two 

 years, whereas this yields a crop at the end of one year. Its duration, with me, seldom exceeds two years, 

 and frequently it lasts only one year." {Hort. Trans, ii.) Williams considers that the fruit of plants raised 

 from seed, comes in very well as a late autumn crop, but is certainly inferior in flavor to that produced 

 from transplanted runners. {Hort. Trans, i. 247.) 



4726. The Rev. T. Gamier, a successful cultivator of strawberries, never suffers any of the varieties to 

 remain in the ground more than one year. " Early in August, or as soon as the gatherings are over, I 

 destroy all my beds, and proceed immediately to trench, form, and manure them in the manner before 

 directed, to receive the plants for the crop of the ensuing year, taking care to select for that purpose the 

 strongest and best-rooted runners from the old rejected plants. If at this season the weather should be 

 particularly hot, and the surface of the ground much parched, I defer the operation of preparing my beds 

 and planting them till the ground is moistened by rain. Such is the simple mode of treatment which I 

 have adopted for three successive years, and I have invariably obtained upon the same spot, a great pro- 

 duce of beautiful fruit, superior to that of every other garden in the neighborhood. Depth of soil I have 

 found absolutely necessary for the growth and production of fine strawberries, and when this is not to be 

 obtained, it is useless, in my opinion, to plant many of the best varieties. It is not generally known, but 

 I have ascertained the fact, that most strawberries generate roots, and strike them into the ground, nearly 

 two feet deep in the course of one season. The pine and roseberry succeed better than any other in stiff 

 and shallow soils, but they should always be planted in an open situation, and not, as is too commonly the 

 practice, in shady and neglected parts of the garden " {Hort. Trans, iv. 480.) 



4727. VoMNg-justly blames gardeners for cutting over the leaves of strawberries after they have borne a 

 crop, thereby preventing proper buds being formed for next year, and also depriving the roots of the 

 plants of their natural protection from the frost. He is also adverse to the practice of digging between 

 the rows in winter, which, he says, cuts off the fibrous roots, and prevents the plants from setting out in 

 spring with that vigor which they otherwise would do. Instead of supplying manure in this way, he re- 

 commends the appropriation of liquid manure ; or what is better, never letting a crop remain above three 

 years on the same piece of ground. {Calcd. Hort. Soc. Mem. iii. 291.) 



4728. Brick-beds for slraivberries. These were observed in a small garden near Chatham, 

 and are thus described : " The beds (Jig. 497. a) were upon flat ground, each about 

 three feet wide, and between them were trenches about nine inches wide, and four-inch 

 walls of brick on each side of the trendies (b), to. keep up the earth on the sides of the 

 beds. These trenches were about the depth of two or three courses of bricks laid flat, 

 without mortar, and were intended for the purpose of holding water, which was supplied 

 from a pump whenever the ground was dry, while the plants were in fruit. By this 



method, a much greater crop of fruit was obtained, and the plants continued bearing 

 much longer than in beds where there were no trenches for water. In Devonshire, straw- 

 berry-beds are constructed against the side of a hill or bank, by building up beds in steps, 

 with rough granite at the front, to keep up the earth, each step being about two feet 

 high and three feet wide. These steps were filled with good loam, and the surface of 

 each was covered with rough pieces of granite bedded into the loam, leaving openings 

 between the stones, just sufficient to put in the plants. The surface being covered with 

 granite, kept the ground longer in a moist state, and the fruit always clean. " I 

 should expect," observes the writer, " that chippings of stone, such as may be had from 

 the masons in London, might answer the same purpose. I have found a great advantage 

 in keeping the fruit clean, by laying a row of common bricks on each side of the rows 

 of strawberry-plants ; I tried plain tiles, but found bricks answer better, as the tiles are 

 apt to be broken in gathering the fruit, and will not do to use a second time." (Atkinson, 

 in Hort. Trans, v. 191.) 



4729. Taking the crop. The fruit ripens from June to August and September ; but the main crop is 

 usually over in July. Gather when the weather is dry, and the same day that the fruit is to be sent to 

 table, otherwise it will soon lose its flavor. Pinch off the calyx and a quarter of an inch of the peduncle, 

 along with the berry. 



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