JULY 387 



them for the winter under a wall, water well till rooted, 

 mulch for the winter, and leave in the same place till 

 April. Prepare a bed then in full sunshine with plenty 

 of good cow-manure. Take up the young plants from 

 under the wall; plant them in the bed a foot apart, 

 alternating the next row ; mulch again, and water copiously 

 while the plants are flowering. Pick off all runners 

 except those required for propagation. 



The only real difference between this and the former 

 receipt is that the first one prescribes the constant sow- 

 ing and taking runners from the young plants, whereas 

 the German gardener, apparently, took his runners from 

 older plants. This difference would be quite accounted 

 for by the difference between a soil naturally suited to 

 Strawberries and one that is not. 



Last year I heard of an American way of growing 

 Strawberries, a man in New York having made a large 

 fortune by inventing the following method : A petroleum 

 barrel is made clean by burning it out. Holes, about 

 two inches wide, are drilled into it in alternate rows from 

 base to top at intervals of about six inches in all directions. 

 The barrel is then raised on bricks or stones, ample holes 

 having been bored in the bottom of the cask for drainage. 

 The bottom is filled with crocks and broken pots, and 

 then a layer up to the neight of the first holes is filled in 

 with good mould. The Strawberry runners, well rooted, 

 are planted by drawing the crown of the plant through the 

 hole and spreading out the roots. Then fill up with soil 

 till you reach the next layer, and so on up to the top. 

 The top is not filled to the very rim, so as to admit of 

 rain soaking down, and to hold the watering and liquid- 

 manure soaking which it requires in the spring. A small 

 drain-pipe should be let in down the middle of the barrel 

 to ensure the water and liquid manure reaching the 

 lower plants in sufficient quantity. I am bound to own 



c c2 



