POT CULTURE AKD FORCING. 41 



Plants of one season's growth or those struck in pots 

 during the summer will answer well for forcing in win- 

 ter. The plants will not be as large as older ones, or 

 produce as many berries, but, as they are smaller, a 

 greater number can can be forced in a given space. The 

 first or earliest runners should be selected for this pur- 

 pose, and a three or four-inch pot plunged in the ground 

 underneath, or if roots have formed on the young plant 

 when the pots are set in place, they may be thrust into 

 the pot and good soil filled in about them. These pot- 

 grown plants should be lifted early, or about the first of 

 October, and shifted in to five or six-inch pots, filled 

 with very rich compost and plenty of drainage thence- 

 forward treated as advised for older stock. 



Such pot-grown plants may be fruited in the win- 

 dows of an ordinary dwelling, provided the temperature 

 does not fall below 40 or 45 degrees at night. The best 

 varieties of the Strawberry for the purpose, however, are 

 the Monthly Alpines, as they will thrive in a lower tem- 

 perature than those of other species, and, with ordinary 

 care, will continue to bloom and bear fruit all the year 

 round. Fruit is not produced in any great abundance 

 at any one season, but, the crop being a continuous one, it 

 amounts to a pretty fair quantity during the year. As 

 an ornamental window or greenhouse plant there are very 

 few bearing edible fruit worthy of more care or atten- 

 tion than the Monthly Alpine Strawberry. 



VARIETIES FOR FORCING. 



Nearly all of the perfect flowering varieties succeed 

 when forced under glass, but the largest and most pro- 

 lific are to be preferred, because size and quantity are 

 properties sought more than high flavors in a Strawberry 

 "out of season/' An eminent English authority (G. 



