STRAWBERRIES COMPOST AND POTTING. 235 



sprinkling the foliage morning and evening in dry weather ; then they will bo ready 

 for the fruiting pots in about a week. 



Growers of forced strawberries for market, who have from 50,000 to 100,000 pots, 

 adopt a different and much quicker method, but do not obtain such fine plants. When 

 plantlets form on the runners and show incipient roots, they are cut off, with an inch or 

 a little more of the wire above and below each plautlet. Pots for fruiting the plants in 

 are previously filled with soil, made very firm, and watered. The portion of runner below 

 the plantlet is pressed down in the centre of the pot till the incipient roots are just within 

 the soil. The pots are stood in the open, frequent sprinklings through hose-pipes follow, 

 and in that way the plants are established. 



Compost and Potting. Five-inch pots are employed for plants to be started before 

 and with the new year, 6-inch pots for those to be started afterwards. These are known 

 as 48's and 32's arid vary somewhat from different makers, but they must not be less 

 in diameter inch below the rim than the measurements given. The pots should be 

 clean inside and out ; if new, soaked in water and drained before use. For drainage 

 place one large crock concave side downwards, so as to cover about one-third of 

 the bottom, with other pieces to form a layer over it, finishing with smaller pieces, 

 the whole to form a depth of \\ inch for 5-inch and \\ inch for 6-inch pots. Broken 

 oyster-shells are excellent for drainage; bones are best avoided as liable to become 

 pasty. 



The best material for potting consists of loam from turves cut 2 inches thick where 

 the soil is of friable nature, neither light nor heavy, and stacked for two or three months. 

 To this, torn up roughly, or in pieces of 1 or 2 inches, add a fifth of well-decayed manure 

 free from worms, or sweetened horse -droppings, also a pint each of soot, bone meal, and 

 wood ashes to every bushel of the loam. Incorporate the whole well together, and have 

 the compost moist enough for ramming firmly. Heavy loams are improved by a fifth of 

 burned clay, and light loams by an admixture of marly clay, dried and pounded. 



It is important that none of the plants are dry at the time of potting, but water must 

 be given in time to allow the surplus to drain away. Place some of the roughest 

 portions of the compost on the drainage, ram it and add enough so that when the plant 

 is introduced the base of the crown will be f inch below the rim of 5-inch, and 1 inch 

 of the 6-inch pots. The soil should be neither wet nor dry, extremes in either direction 

 being objectionable. Let each plant be exactly in the centre of the pot, ram the soil 

 hard, just covering all the roots, and having the whole of the plant to the base of 



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