THE STRAWBERRY. 667 



for the next season's crop. The runners from the old strip will 

 now speedily cover the new space allotted to them, and will 

 perhaps require a partial thinning out to have them evenly dis- 

 tributed. As soon as this is the case, say about the middle of 

 August, dig under the whole of the old plants with a light coat 

 of manure. The surface may be then sown with turnips or 

 spinage, which will come off before the next season of fruits. 



In this way the strips or beds, occupied by the plants, are re- 

 versed every season, and the same plot of ground may thus be 

 continued in a productive state for many years. 



Both of the above modes are so superior to the common one 

 of growing them more closely in beds, that we shall not give 

 any directions respecting the latter. 



It may be remarked that the Alpine and European Wood 

 strawberries will do well, and bear longer in a rather shaded 

 situation. The Bush-Alpine, an excellent sort, having no 

 runners, makes one of the neatest borders for quarters or beds 

 in the kitchen garden, and produces considerable fruit till the 

 season of late frosts. If the May crop of blossoms is taken 

 off, they will give an abundant crop in September, and they are, 

 therefore, very desirable in all gardens. 



To accelerate the ripening of early kinds in the open garden 

 it is only necessary to plant rows or beds on the south side of a 

 wall or tight fence. A still simpler mode, by which their 

 maturity will be hastened ten days, is that of throwing up 

 a ridge of soil three feet high, running east and west, and 

 planting it in rows on the south side. (The north side may 

 also be planted with later sorts, which will be somewhat retarded 

 in ripening.) The best early sorts for this purpose are Jenny 

 Lind, and Large Early Scarlet. 



Staminate and Pistillate Plants. A great number of expe- 

 riments have been made, and a great deal has been written 

 lately, in this country, regarding the most certain mode of pro- 

 ducing large crops of this fruit. On one hand it is certain that, 

 with the ordinary modes of cultivation, many fine kinds of 

 strawberries have disappointed their cultivators by becoming 

 barren ; on the other, it is equally certain, that, by the mode 

 of cultivation practised at Cincinnati, large crops may be 

 obtained every year. 



The Cincinnati cultivators divide all Strawberries into two 

 classes, characterized by their blossoms. The first of these they 

 call staminate (or male), from the stamens being chiefly de- 

 veloped ; the second are called pistillate (or female), irom the 

 pistils being chiefly developed. 



The first class, to which belong various sorts, as Keen's Seed- 

 ling, British Queen, etc., usually in this climate bear uncertain 

 crops, from the fact that only a part of the blossoms develop the 

 pistils sufficiently to swell into perfect fruit. 



