Proceedings of the London Horticultural Society. 583 



little now is wanted but regular watering ; the thermometer, however, is by 

 no means allowed to rise above 65° in the day, and 55° at night, until the first 

 bloom opens, except in sunshine, and the floors are kept saturated with mois- 

 ture, with, at all possible opportunities, abundance of air. As to setting the 

 blossoms, I endeavour to get the house up to 70° artificial heat, from daylight 

 until near noon, by which time I have a perfectly dry atmosphere, and the 

 farina in a most subtle state. I then open the sashes front and back, and ob- 

 tain a lively circulation of air for an hour or so. I then take all the air away, 

 and, towards three or four o'clock, syringe them over head, and water the 

 floors and flues for the night. The next part of the process is thinning out 

 the berries when they begin to swell off; my crops set so abundantly by the 

 above method, that I am compelled to thin away at least one half with the 

 scissors. I leave from 14 to 20 berries on each pot, and immediately this 

 thinning is completed, I increase my heat to 70° by day, and 60° by night, 

 shutting up the house on sunny days as high as 90°, with heav}' syringing and 

 floors saturated with wet. I use liquid manure from the time the first flower 

 opens until the fruit turns colour, diluting it with one half clean water in a 

 tepid state, observing to use clean water alternately with dung water, as I find 

 by experience that it is absolutely necessary at all times, or stagnation ensues; 

 and I may here observe that this is the reason why, as I think, many are de- 

 ceived in their expectations with regard to liquid manure. When my straw- 

 berries are ripening, I withhold water almost entirely, more especially for many 

 hours previous to each gathering, observing to give abundance of air by day, 

 and, if possible, a little at night, as on this their flavour most materially de- 

 pends. When they begin to colour, I lower the temperature of the houses, 

 as the slower they ripen the finer the fruit will be, and the richer the flavour, 

 taking care, however, not to starve them. 



" Those who have not been accustomed to this mode, may probably be pre- 

 judiced at the appearance of so much care and trouble. I can assure them, 

 however, that it is not so troublesome as it appears at first sight ; it is onlv 

 observing the proper times of conducting the different processes, which, if 

 attended to, will infallibly produce abundant crops of unusually large straw- 

 berries. Of course no red spiders or aphides are allowed to rest a day on the 

 plants, one complete fumigating and a day's sulphuring, when the blossoms of 

 the earliest crop are rising, are all the care I take in this respect ; and this car- 

 ries me through the strawberry season. I send herewith a dozen specimens 

 gathered from my second crop. 



" I have two houses in which I grow them, each 30ft. long; they are placed 

 on a back shelf close to the roof; each house holds 32 pots, heated by hot 

 water, and the roof is metallic. 



" One fire heats three 30 ft. long houses, whose bases respectively are 18 ft., 

 16ft., and 14ft. in width; they were built and heated by Mr. J. Jones of 

 Birmingham. 



" The following is a statement of the produce of the two shelves. Each 

 pot averaged 14 strawberries; each shelf contained 32 pots. From 3 to 4 

 strawberries averaged an ounce, the largest strawberry weighed an ounce. 

 Thus 32 X 14 = 448 -*- 4 = 112 oz. the produce of each shelf. 



" Which, at 2s. per ounce, gives £,\\ 4s., or the two shelves ^22 Ss. 



" I may here add that the first crop is now gathered, the plants turned out, 

 and another set of strong plants introduced, which are now in bloom." 



Exhibited. From the Rev. Thomas Gamier, cones of ^ x bies Webbidna., 

 ripened in his garden at Bishopstoke, near Winchester. From Mr. Errington, 

 gardener to Sir P. de M. Grey Egerton, Bart., a dish of strawberries forced 

 in the manner detailed in the foregoing paper. From Mr. Pratt, gardener to 

 William Harrison, Esq., a plant of the rare Jrctostaphylos nzyrtifolia, together 

 with .Euphorbia splendens and Peristeria pendula. From Mr. D. Beaton, 

 gardener to Thomas Harris, Esq., a specimen of Clerodendrumjphlomoides, a 

 rare stove plant, with fragrant white flowers. 



