The Culture of Vegetables 



appreciation for their size, colour, and flavour demands both skill and 

 patience, especially patience. 



Strong well-rooted plants are essential to success, and no trouble 

 should be spared to secure them from robust free-fruiting stocks. 

 The earliest runners must either be layered on square pieces of 

 mellow turf or over thumb pots filled with a good rich compost. 

 When the runners are fairly rooted in the layers of turf or the thumb 

 pots they should be transferred to pots of the fruiting size. No. 32 

 is generally used for the purpose. After the pots have been crocked 

 some growers add a layer of half-inch bones, which aid the plants and 

 insure free drainage. The most satisfactory soil is a rich fibrous 

 loam, with the addition of one-fourth of well-rotted manure and a 

 small proportion of sand, and the compost must be well firmed into 

 the pots with the ramming stick. 



The best place to keep the plants is an open airy situation, easily 

 accessible, where the pots can stand on a bed of ashes. On the 

 approach of frost they can be transferred to a cold frame, keeping 

 them close to the glass, or they may be plunged in ashes in some 

 sheltered position. 



When the time arrives for forcing, it is usual to commence by 

 plunging the pots in a bed of warm leaves or in a mild half-spent 

 hot-bed. Immediately the plants show sign of blooming they must 

 be shifted to warmer quarters. A shelf at the back of an early vinery 

 or peach house, quite near the glass, is a suitable position. The 

 temperature at starting should be 55 Fahr., rising gradually to 60 by 

 the time the leafage is thoroughly developed. 



The appearance of the flower trusses is a critical period. Liquid 

 manure should then be given freely, and at the same time the plants 

 must have abundance of light and a warm dry atmosphere. The 

 blossoms need to be artificially fertilised with a camel's-hair pencil, 

 choosing mid-day as the best time for this operation. 



When the crop has set it must be thinned to about nine berries 

 on each plant, and in due time the fruits should have the support of 

 forked sticks. Care will be necessary to prevent injury to the stalks, 

 or the flow of sap to the berries may be arrested. Syringe twice a 

 day in dry weather, and on the first show of colour discontinue the 

 manure-water and use pure soft water only. At this stage a night 

 temperature of 65 must be maintained, giving all the air and light 

 possible. 



More failures in the pot culture of Strawberries are attributable 

 to neglect in watering than to any other cause. The soil must never 



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