JULY 397 



Last year I heard of an American way of growing 

 Strawberries, a man in New York having made a large 

 fortune by inventing the following method : A petroleum 

 barrel is made clean by burning it out. Holes, about 

 two inches wide, are drilled into it in alternate rows 

 from base to top, at intervals of about six inches in all 

 directions. The barrel is then raised on bricks or 

 stones, ample holes having been bored in the bottom of 

 the cask for drainage. The bottom is filled with crocks 

 and broken pots, and then a layer up to the height of 

 the first holes is filled in with good mould. The Straw- 

 berry runners, well rooted, are planted by drawing the 

 crown of the plant through the hole and spreading out 

 the roots. Then fill up with soil till you reach the next 

 layer, and so on up to the top. The top is not filled to 

 the very rim, so as to admit of rain soaking down, and 

 to hold the watering and liquid -manure soaking which 

 it requires in the spring. A small drain -pipe should be 

 let in, down the middle of the barrel, to ensure the water 

 and liquid -manure reaching the lower plants in sufficient 

 quantity. I am bound to own that my gardener says 

 the cask did not ripen well last year ; but I was not 

 here, so I cannot say what was the reason. I suspect it 

 was that the moisture did not penetrate sufficiently into 

 the barrel. I have planted two more tubs this autumn 

 in the same way with ' Viscountess' and ' Royal Sov- 

 ereign,' and shall await results. It is just possible there 

 is not sun enough in this country to ripen them grown 

 in this way, though I do not believe it. The advantages, 

 if successful, would be great economy of ground, the 

 fact that you can water without fear of drawing up the 

 roots, that no straw or cocoanut fibre is required to keep 

 the fruit clean ; and I imagine, grown in that way, the 

 birds would not touch the fruit. 



I saw two pretty decorations for a luncheon -table in 



