CHAP. XI VILLA GARDENING 375 



used leaves. Turf pits, with some old lights to keep off heavy- 

 rains, are good places to winter Strawberries in. If nothing better 

 can be done, 2)lunge in the open air, and when the frost comes 

 strew some dry Fern leaves over them to shelter the pots. Frost 

 has a resting effect upon well-matured plants, and covering should 

 only be used to save the pots from breakage. If I were forcing 

 Strawberries very largely, after the growth was well ripened I 

 should turn them out of the pots, pack the balls close together 

 on a bed of ashes, with some litter placed round the outside plants 

 to keep them from drying, and place as many in pots again as are 

 required for forcing. 



Commencing to Force. — It is difficult to say really when 

 forcing begins, for the most important part of the work is done during 

 the summer and autumn previous. If the blossoms are not packed 

 away in the crowns of the plants, no amount of forcing, as ordinarily 

 understood, can produce fruit. Not only must the blossoms be 

 there, but they must possess the vigour and substance which right 

 management only can give. There is no great demand for ripe 

 Strawberries much before March, and to obtain them by the middle 

 of that month, the first batch of plants should be introduced to 

 the forcing-pit about the first week in January, and relays of plants 

 must be introduced fortnightly to keep a succession. The blossoms 

 will come away a little stronger if the pots can be partially plunged 

 (just enough to steady them) in a bed of leaves where there is a 

 mild fermentation going on, and where the plants can almost touch 

 the glass. In this position they may remain till the flowers are 

 just beginning to open, when they are taken to the forcing-house, 

 which should be a very light structure having a complete system 

 of ventilation which can be easily applied. In forcing early Straw- 

 berries now no one trusts altogether to a circulation of air to set 

 the fruit. As the blossoms open, every day about noon a man or 

 a boy touches each flower with a camel-hair pencil, all weakly 

 blossoms having been previously picked off. There is no difti- 

 culty in getting Strawberries to set under this system. As regards 

 the number of fruits which a fully -developed Strawberry plant 

 should be permitted to carry, it is obvious that everything, or 

 nearly everything, must depend firstly on the strength of the indi- 

 vidual plants, and secondly, on what size we wish our Strawberries 

 to be. It is certain that a badly-developed, perhaps imperfectly- 

 fertilised blossom cannot grow into a large fruit, no matter how 

 few may be left on the plant ; but, as a rule, with healthy vigorous 

 plants having all their parts perfect, if we leave only a moderate 

 number of berries on the plant, we shall have as much fruit in 

 bulk and weight as if the number left were doubled. Usually, if 



