NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 6 1 



The spade should never be used among strawberries, 

 as the roots lie close to the surface, and, if destroyed, the 

 healthy vigour of the plant will be impaired. A light 

 forking is all that is necessary, top dressing with decomposed 

 manure. 



The following are good varieties : Black Prince (early),. 

 Keen's Seedling, La Marguerite, Rifleman, Sir Joseph 

 Paxton, Trollope's Victoria. 



The Vine can be successfully grown in any light porous 

 soil. The most suitable, however, being a calcareous loam 

 on a dry subsoil. Whatever be the character of the sur- 

 face soil, the substratum (or subsoil) must be free from 

 stagnant water. Unless these conditions are observed it 

 will be useless to try to grow vines successfully. If the 

 ground is naturally deep and dry very little will be required 

 beyond deep trenching and the application of well-rotted 

 manure. One of the most important improvers or correctors 

 of soil is lime rubbish. A great deal of trouble is some- 

 times gone to in preparing vine borders, such as excavating 

 the soil for three feet deep, paving the botton of the trench 

 with lime rubbish, old bones, and fresh soil. We do not 

 consider this necessary, provided the soil is naturally good, 

 when the treatment above referred to will suffice. The 

 requisite nourishment can be supplied by liberal top-dressing 

 each season, which should be applied in May or June. 

 One of the main features in vine culture should be to 

 encourage a vigorous surface root action. This can only 

 be done by a generous treatment of the surface soil of the 

 border. Writing on this subject Mr. Thomson (an authority 

 on vine culture) says : 



The fact that the roots of vines require to be as carefully 

 cultivated as their stems is in numerous instances not syste- 

 matically recognised nor acted upon. What is considered 

 an orthodox border is made, and young vines planted, and 

 while every necessary detail connected with the welfare of 

 the stems is attended to with care, that upon which success 

 mainly depends namely, the culture of their roots is not 

 attended to with the regularity and care that is necessary to 

 keep them where they ought to be near the surface of the 

 border. 



