THE SMALL FRUITS. ] 617 



development of runners. Strawberries grown in pots 

 must be repotted every year, in January or February, 

 and each time the old compost should be discarded 

 altogether, fresh soil being used instead. 



Strawberry plants should be shaded off in summer. 

 Plants in pots can be easily removed to a shaded situa- 

 tion along a northern wall or under a shady tree or 

 pergola. Strawberry beds are usually shaded by plant- 

 ing or sowing in each bed a club- marrow ( Lagenaria 

 leucantha). This trailing plant will soon shade the bed 

 very effectively, and the expensive for summer cultiva- 

 tion of the strawberry beds will be amply recouped by 

 the sale of the green fruit of the club-marrow, which 

 always finds a ready market as a vegetable. The 

 Pumpkin is sometimes used for the same purpose, but 

 its vegetation is too rough, producing a very thick shade, 

 so that the straberry plants are often choked and 

 killed. French runner beans and such other plants as 

 capsicums and egg-plants are also useful as shade- 

 producers. 



DISEASES OF SMALL FRUITS. 



The Small Fruits abovementioned, with the excep- 

 tion of the strawberry, have been cultivated here on a 

 very small scale, and so far as it is known there have 

 been no complaints on account of parasitical diseases, 

 nor is it likely that their cultivation in these Islands will 

 ever assume such proportion as to confer importance on 

 the study of their diseases. Nevertheless some reference 

 must be made to them, for the guidance of amateur 

 growers. 



