CHAPTER XVII. 



FORCING STRAWBERRIES UNDER GLASS. 



TRAINED gardeners need no instruction from me on this topic. 

 There may be those, however, who have never given the subject 

 attention, and who would be glad to learn some of the first principles of 

 success in forcing this fruit for market, while a still larger number, having 

 small conservatories and warm south windows, would be pleased to see 

 a few strawberries blossoming and ripening, as an earnest of the coming 

 June. There are no greater difficulties in the way than in having flowers, 

 for it is merely^ question of doing the right thing at the right time. I do 

 not believe in a system of minute, arbitrary directions, so much as in the 

 clear statement of a few general principles that will suggest what ought 

 to be done. The strawberry plant has the same character indoors as 

 out, and this fact alone, in view of what has been written, should suggest 

 moisture, coolness, light and air. I shall endeavor to present, however, 

 each successive step. 



First, prepare a compost of thoroughly rotted sods and the cleanings 

 of the cow-stable, in the proportion of three parts sod-mold to one of 

 manure. In the place of sods, decayed leaves, muck, sweetened by a 

 year's exposure to air and frost, or any good, rich loam will answer. With 

 this compost, made fine and clean by passing it through a coarse sieve, 

 fill in June, and not later than July, as many three-inch pots as you 

 desire ; then sink them to their rims along the sides of the rows from which 

 you propose to obtain winter-bearing plants. Varieties best adapted for 



