THE STRAWBERRY 165 



rows. There is a very considerable difference in the date of 

 ripening in different parts of the British Isles. For example, 

 in the great strawberry district lying to the north-east of South- 

 ampton, the season is two to three weeks in advance of the 

 Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire season, and the former conse- 

 quently monopolises the markets of the important northern 

 industrial centres of consumption, such as Glasgow, Belfast, 

 and Manchester. 



The Strawberry plant produces abundantly only in its second 

 and third year of growth. Beginning with the fourth year there 

 is a diminution of productiveness, and this diminution becomes 

 more and more marked in each succeeding year. It is so easy 

 to obtain new plants from the old ones, as described above, that 

 there is no excuse for the retention of the old plants beyond their 

 fourth season, and at the end of that period at latest a new bed in 

 a different part of the garden should be formed. 



