Forcing Strazvberrics. 287 



quired , adding a succession-crop as often as may seem desirable. The 

 conditions for success are few and simple. A gradual start may be obtained 

 in any spare corner or cool part of the house, as under a stage or table, if 

 free from drip. Water moderately until the roots and tops become active. 

 As soon as the crowns begin to develop, the plants should be placed near to 

 the glass, and have the three great requisites, — light, air, and heat. Water 

 freely, using guano in solution, when the berries begin to swell. In order 

 to induce luxuriance of growth, and keep the red spider in check, syringe 

 the foliage as soon as the sun strikes in the morning, and again upon early 

 closing in the afternoon. This process is to be omitted, to a degree, when 

 the plants are in bloom. Fumigation with tobacco may become necessary 

 in order to destroy aphis. We scarcely need speak of the breaking-off of 

 runners ; and indeed the whole winter treatment is so simple and natural, 

 that any close observer might " venture to go it alone." 



Yet the conditions, though simple, are absolute. With light, air, heat, and 

 a regular and plentiful supply of moisture, the result is certain and splen- 

 did, equal to the most prodigious crops in June; often yielding an income 

 of a dollar per plant, and, in exceptional cases, of double this amount. 

 But light and heat are not spontaneous in the bleak days of January. 

 They are not to be found in a cold frame : they cannot be secured in a 

 house facing north or west, and scarcely in one facing east. Even if 

 facing south, under a veiy flat roof, the sun's rays are so greatly diminished, 

 that no successful v;oik can be done until the sun rides high in March. 

 We have as clear sunlight throughout the winter as any countr}', much 

 more so than England ; and yet we need to economize this influence to the 

 utmost during the short, cold days of winter. It is a well-known rule, that, 

 as the angle of the sun's rays upon a glass roof become more acute, the 

 deflection rapidly increases : consequently, the attempt to early force a 

 crop of strawberries under an ordinary frame-roof heated by pipes would 

 be hopeless. In order to secure a sufficient amount of sunlight and heat, 

 a moderately sharp roof seems to be essential. In order to free and abun- 

 dant ventilation, narrow houses are most desirable. A due south aspect is, 

 of course, most favorable for protection from cold, and for the sun's influ- 

 ence. We may, then, conclude that a lean-to house eleven feet wide, with 

 a pitch of at least one foot in three, and looking south, would be most 



