CULTURE. 521 



Ripe, blushing, strawberries, eaten from the plant, or served 

 with sugar and cream, are certainly Arcadian dainties with a 

 true paradisiacal flavour, and fortunately, they are so easily 

 grown that the poorest owner of a few feet of ground may have 

 them in abundance. 



To the confectioner this fruit is also invaluable, communi- 

 cating its flavour to ices, and forming several delicate preserves. 

 In Paris a cooling drink, lavaroise a la grecque, is made of the 

 juice of strawberries and lemons, with the addition of sugar and 

 water. 



The strawberry is perhaps the most wholesome of all fruits, 

 being very easy of digestion, and never growing acid by fer- 

 mentation as most other fruits do. The often quoted instance 

 of the great Linnaeus curing himself of the gout by partaking 

 freely of strawberries a proof of its great wholesomeness is 

 a letter of credit which this tempting fruit has long enjoyed, for 

 the consolation of those who are looking for a bitter concealed 

 under every sweet. 



PROPAGATION AND SOIL. The strawberry propagates itself 

 very rapidly by runners* which are always taken to form new 

 plantations or beds. These are taken off the parent plants 

 early in August, and either planted at once where they are to 

 grow, or put out in nursery beds, or rows, to get well established 

 for the next spring planting. When the parent plants have be- 

 come degenerated, or partially, or wholly barren, we should avoid 

 taking the runners from such, and choose only those which grow 

 from the most fruitful ones. In order to be sure of the latter 

 point it is only necessary to mark the best bearing plants by 

 small sticks pushed into the bed by the side of each when the 

 fruit is in perfection. Some varieties, as the Prolific Hautbois, 

 the English wood, and the Large Early Scarlet, are not liable 

 to this deterioration, and therefore it is not necessary to select 

 the runners carefully ; but others, as the Pine strawberries, and 

 some of the Scarlets, are very liable to it, and if the runners are 

 taken and planted promiscuously, the beds, so made, will be 

 nearly barren. 



The best soil for the strawberry is a deep, rich, loam. Deep 

 it must be, if large berries and plentiful crops are desired ; and 

 the wisest course, therefore, where the soil is naturally thin, lies 

 in trenching and manuring the plot of ground thoroughly, be- 

 fore putting out the plants. But even if this is not necessary 

 it should be dug deeply, and well enriched with strong manure 

 beforehand. 



The best exposure for strawberries is an open one, fully ex- 

 posed to the sun and light. 



* Excepting the Bush Alpines, which have no runners, and are propa- 

 gated by division of the roots. 

 44* 



