Small and Bush Fruits: Strawberries 165 



highly coloured mid-season variety; "Royal Sovereign", for early work; 

 "Sir Joseph Paxton", mid-season; "Noble", early; and " Givon's Late 

 Prolific ", a strong-growing dark-crimson late variety. Older varieties still 

 grown in places are "Keen's Seedling", raised at Isleworth in 1823; 

 " President " ; and " Sir Charles Napier ". When well grown, a single 

 plant will carry as many as 100 fruits, about 40 of which will weigh 

 1 lb., thus giving about 2J Ib. per plant. Reckoning 11,000 plants to the 

 acre, this gives over 12 tons of fruit to the acre. It may be taken for 

 granted, however, that half this quantity (6 tons) is rarely obtained, and 

 3 tons would be considered a good average open-air crop, and many of 

 the fruits would be far from first grade. 



Many modern growers send the fruit to market in chip baskets holding 

 from 4 to 6 Ib., covering them over with stout paper on which their name 

 and address (or that of their commission agent) is printed. A 4-lb. basket 

 measures about 11 in. long, 6 in. wide across the top, and about 3| in. 

 deep, and weighs about 4 oz., the cost being from 80s. to 90s. per 1000. 

 Baskets holding larger quantities are also used, but only when the prices 

 have tumbled down. For early supplies small chip punnets, or baskets 

 holding 1 lb., are used, and contain only selected " berries " that fetch good 

 prices, and thus raise the average for the entire crop. 



One of the most expensive items in connection with Strawberry culti- 

 vation is "strawing" between the plants. Some growers use long littery 

 stable manure at the rate of 30 to 40 tons to the acre. It is put on the 

 ground early in spring, so that it may be washed clean by the rains by 

 the time the fruit is to rest upon it. In this way two birds are killed 

 with one stone the ground is well manured and the fruits are kept clean 

 from mud splashes. Others prefer to use clean oat or barley straw at the 

 rate of 15 to 30 cwt. per acre, and this will cost from 2 to 3. Of 

 course a certain amount of this must be credited as manure, perhaps the 

 greater portion. 



As to manuring, there is nothing to beat a good dressing of stable 

 manure. From 12 to 15 tons would be a fair quantity for retentive soil, 

 while twice as much would be necessary for lighter land. If chemical 

 manures are used at all they should be used sparingly, and one of the 

 best for Strawberries is basic slag applied at the rate of 5 or 6 cwt. per acre 

 about the middle of January. The use of nitrate of soda is apt to make 

 the fruits too watery and thus less fit for transport, besides which it would 

 be quite unnecessary if stable manure had been dug in previously. 



The ash analysis of the Strawberry given in Vol. I, p. 109, will serve 

 to guide the grower as to what foods are taken out of the soil. The ash 

 represents only 3'34 per cent of the entire weight of the plant, thus leaving 

 96'66 per cent to water and carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere (see 

 Vol. I, pp. 44, 108). The fruit contains 90 per cent of water and the plant 

 62'3 per cent. The tWlowing analysis of the Strawberry by M. J. Isidore 

 Pierre, taken from Success with Small Fruits, by E. P. Roe, may be of 

 interest: 



