CHAPTER XVII. 



FORCING STRAWBERRIES UNDER GLASS. 



npRAINED gardeners need no instruction from me on 

 this topic. There may be those, however, who have 

 never given the subject attention, and who would be glad 

 to learn some of the first principles of success in forcing this 

 fruit for market ; while a still larger number, having small 

 conser\'atories and warm south windows, would be pleased 

 to see a few strawberries blossoming and ripening, as an 

 earnest of the coming June. There are no greater diffi- 

 culties in the way than in having flowers, for it is merely a 

 question of doing the right thing at the right time. I do 

 not believe in a system of minute, arbitrary directions, so 

 much as in the clear statement of a few general principles 

 that will suggest what ought to be done. The strawberry 

 plant has the same character indoors as out, and this fact 

 alone, in view of what has been written, should suggest 

 moisture, coolness, light, and air. I shall endeavor to 

 present, however, each successive step. 



First, prepare a compost of thoroughly rotted sods and 

 the cleanings of the cow-stable, in the proportion of three 

 parts sod-mold to one of manure. In the place of sods, 

 decayed leaves, muck, sweetened by a year's exposure to 

 air and frost, or any good, rich loam will answer. With this 

 compost, made fine and clean by passing it through a coarse 



