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THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PR A 



little doubt that they would prove as productive as the haut- 

 boy : this is not advanced upon theory, but has experimental 

 proof for its foundation. Forcing. Some persons are so fond 

 of Strawberries, as to be at any expense to obtain them early 

 in the year ; and when their great medical virtues are consi- 

 dered, it will not be deemed an useless or trifling addition to 

 the present article, to detail the practice of those who have 

 best succeeded in the early raising, forcing, or management 

 of these fruits. Where there are any hot walls erected in 

 gardens for the producing early fruit, it is very common to 

 see Strawberries planted in the borders, that the fire which 

 is applied for ripening the fruit against the walls, may also 

 serve the purpose of bringing forward the Strawberries: but 

 where this is the practice, the Strawberry plants should be 

 annually renewed, taking up the plants as soon as the fruit 

 is over; then all the earth of the border should be taken out 

 at least two feet deep, and fresh earth brought in, which will 

 be equally good for the wall trees ; but, as was before ob- 

 served, that the old plants only are those which produce the 

 fruit, there should be a sufficient number of plants brought 

 up in pots to supply the borders annually, and the same must 

 be done if they are to-be raised in a common hot-bed, or in 

 stoves. We shall therefore begin with instructions for raising 

 and preparing plants for those purposes. The sorts most 

 proper for forcing early are, the Scarlet, the Alpine, and the 

 Wood Strawberries, for the Hautboy grows too large a plant 

 for this purpose. In the choice of plants, there should be 

 an especial care taken to have them from the most fruitful 

 plants, and those which grow immediately to the old plants : 

 they should be taken off in autumn, and each planted in a I 

 separate small pot rilled with loamy soil, and placed in a 

 shady situation till they have taken root, after which they 

 may^be removed to an open situation, where they may 

 remain till the middle or end of November, when the pots 

 should be plunged in the ground up to their rims, to prevent 

 the frost from penetrating through the side of the pots ; if 

 these be placed near a wail, pale, or hedge, exposed to an 

 east aspect, or north-east, they will succeed better than in 

 a warm situation, because they will not be forced too for- 

 ward : the only care they require is, to secure them from 

 being turned out of the pots after frost. The spring follow- 

 ing, the plants will be so far advanced as to have filled the 

 pots with their roots by (be end of April, when they should 

 be turned out of the pots, and their roots pared ; then planted 

 into penny pots filled with the like loamy soil, and plunged 

 into the ground in a shady situation, where they should 

 remain the followins summer, during which lime they must 

 be duly kept clean from weeds, and all the runners must be 

 taken off as fast as they are produced ; likewise if there 

 should be any flowers come out, they should be pinched 

 off, and not suffered to bear fruit, which would weaken the 

 plants, for there cannot be too much care taken to have them 

 as strong as possible, that they may produce plenty of fruit, 

 without which they are not worth the trouble of forcing. 

 About the middle of October, or earlier if the autumn proves 

 cold, the pots should be removed into a warmer situation, to 

 prepare them for forcing; for they should not be suddenly 

 removed from a very cold situation immediately into the siove 

 or hot-bed, but with a gradual preparation. Where they are 

 designed for the borders near a hot-wall, they may then be 

 turned out of the pots, and planted into the borders, that they 

 may have time to get fresli rooting before the fires are made to 

 heat the walls: when these are planted, they may be placed 

 very close to each other ; for a* they are designed to remain 

 there no longer than till they have ripened their fruit, they 

 will not require much room, as their roots will find sufficient 



nourishment below, and also from the earth which is filled 

 into the spaces between the balls of earth about their roots; 

 and it is of consequence to get as much fruit as possible in u 

 small space, where there is an expense to force them early. 

 If the fires be lighted about Christmas, the .Strawberries in 

 these borders will be ri| e by the end of March ; or, if the sea- 

 son should prove very cold, it may be the middle of April 

 before they will be fit for the table. In the management of 

 the plants, there must be care taken to supply them with 

 water when they begin to show their flowers, otherwise they 

 will fall off without producing any fruit, and in mild weather 

 there should be fresh air admitted to them every day ; but 

 as fruit-trees against the wall must be so treated, the same 

 treatment will agree with the Strawberries. If the Straw- 

 berries are to be forced in a stove, where there are pine- 

 apples, and no room to plunge them in the tan-bed, then the 

 plants should be transplanted into larger pots in September, 

 that they may be well rooted before they are removed into 

 the stove, which should not be till December; but if in the 

 beginning of November they be placed under a frame where 

 they may be screened from the frost, it will prepare the plants 

 better for forcing; and those who are desirous to have them 

 very early, make a hot-bed under frames, upon which they 

 place their plants the latter end of October, which will bring 

 them forward to flower, and then they remove the plants into 

 the stove ; when these plants are removed into the stove, 

 they should be placed as near to the glasses as possible, that 

 they may enjoy the full sun and air, for when they are placed 

 backward, the plants will draw up weak, and the Mowers will 

 drop without producing fruit. As the earth in the pots will 

 dry pretty fast when they stand upon the pavement of the 

 hot-house, or on shelves, the plants must be duly watered, 

 but with discretion : they will produce ripe fruit in February, 

 which is as early as they are likely to be required, except it 

 be for medical purposes. When the fruit is all gathered 

 from the plants, they should be turned out of the stove ; nor 

 should those plants which are in the borders near the hot 

 walls be left there after their fruit is gathered, but immedi- 

 ately taken up, that they may deprive the fruit-trees of as 



little nourishment as possible. Where there is no conve- 



niency of stoves or hot-walls for this purpose, the fruit may 

 be ripened upon common hot-beds; and though they may 

 not be quite so early as with the other advantages, yet great 

 crops of them have ripened iu April upon common hot- 

 beds under frames : the plants were prepared in pots after 

 ibe manner before directed, and were placed in a warm situ- 

 ation in the beginning of October; the hot-bed was made 

 about Christinas in the same manner as for Cucumbers, but 

 not so strong; and as soon as the first violent sleatu of the 

 dung is over, some old rotten dung laid over the hot-bed to 

 keep down the heat, or, where it can be easily procured, row- 

 dung is preferable. The plants should then be turned out 

 of the pots, and placed upon the bed as closely together as 

 possible, filling up the interstices between the plants with 

 earth, and afterwards admitting fresh air every day. If the 

 heat of the bed be too great, the plants should be raised up, 

 to prevent their roots from being scorched ; if the bed be 

 too cold, the sides of it should be lined with some hot dung. 

 The first bed will bring the plants to flower by the end of 

 February, or the beginning of March, by which time the 

 heat of the bed will be spent ; therefore another hot-bed 

 should be prepared to receive the plants, which need not 

 be so strong as the first; but upon the hot dung should be 

 laid some cow-dung, about two inches thick, which should 

 be equally spread and smoothed ; this will prevent the heat 

 of the bed from injuring the roots of the plants, and 



