2z8 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



knolls or ground through which it passes freely, the soil being enriched by fallen leaves 

 and decaying vegetation. In cultivation we have to deal with different plants, but there 

 is a similarity in their requirements. Cultivated plants must not have water-logged 

 soil, but a fertile medium in a situation open to every ray of light from sunrise to 

 sunset. Field strawberries are always the most highly flavoured when grown in the 

 sun, those ripened in the shade being indifferent in quality. Shelter is good in bleak 

 exposures to break the violence of winds and prevent injury to the foliage, hedges or 

 lines of espalier fruit trees being better than walls. 



Early fruits may be secured by planting in south borders or on warm banks, due 

 regard being had to the supply of water in hot weather. Plants in north borders or 

 inclines supply late fruit, and, in gardens especially, some such provision is desirable to 

 have strawberries over the longest possible period. 



PLANTING STRAWBERRIES. 



The earlier the runners can be planted after they become well rooted, the better chance 

 they have of getting established and forming good crowns for next season's bearing. 

 From the middle of July to early August is usually the summer planting season. If the 

 ground be light or cloddy, tread it, especially where the rows are to be, but only when 

 the ground is in good working order. 



The rows in the rich soils of gardens should be 30 inches apart, and the plants 15 

 inches asunder in them. In very rich deep loams the rows may be 3 feet apart, and 

 the plants 18 inches asunder the first year, every other plant being taken out after the 

 first year's crop is gathered. Compact- growing varieties may be planted a little closer. 

 A convenient mode of cultivating strawberries in small gardens is by the side of paths, 

 inserting the plants 12 to 18 inches apart; a continuous marginal line is thus formed, 

 bearing bountiful crops handy for picking. 



Some of the smaller-growing varieties, especially Grove End Scarlet, may be 

 grown in beds, planting the runners about 9 inches apart, leaving out every fifth row 

 for an alloy, allowing the others to grow into a mass. When thus cultivated, the fruit is 

 kept clean, as the dense leafage prevents the strawberries resting on the ground, and 

 blackbirds do not find them so readily as when the fruit is exposed. Alpines and Haut- 

 bois arc also best grown in beds about 4 feet wide, but the planting distances should be 

 12 inches for Alpines, and 15 to 18 inches for JIautbois. 



In fields the plants are set at variable distances. At St. Mary Cray and Swanley 



