.*: FRUITS. CHAP. 



of this latter. Strawberries will bear a little in this 

 way, though not much j but the fruit will be of small 

 and insipid flavour. Neither should even the clumps be 

 suffered to stand to bear for more than two years. I have 

 sometimes tried them the third year, but have never found 

 it answer. But then to have new clumps is so easy that 

 this can form an objection with no one. Having need of 

 a certain number of clumps, you have only to take up 

 those that have borne for two years, and plant just the 

 same number of new ones. To remove strawberries 

 from one place to another is the easiest thing in the 

 world : you have nothing to do but to give a chop with 

 a spade round the clump ; take it up and put it in the 

 place where you wish to have it. This may be done at 

 any time between October and May without the smallest 

 chance of injuring the crop : to all its other excellent 

 qualities, the strawberry adds hardiness of the plant, 

 in a swamp, on a bank, amidst rocks, and upon the tops 

 of walls, I have seen strawberries growing and bearing ; 

 but stifling they will not endure j and, therefore, if you 

 want the industry and care to plant them at suitable dis- 

 tances and to keep them clear of grass and weeds, never 

 expect a crop of strawberries. Before I come to speak 

 of the different sorts, let me notice three things : pre- 

 serving strawberries from the birds and slugs ; keeping 

 them from being covered with dirt by the heavy rains ; 

 and giving them water if the ground be at all dry. As 

 to the first of these, the wood-pigeons, the common 

 pigeons, the doves, the blackbirds; the jack daws, the 

 thrushes, and even some of the small birds, invade the 

 strawberry clumps, and, if unresisted, destroy a great 

 part of the fruit. In this case, which happens when 

 there are woods and shrubberies at hand, nothing is a 



