156' 



JOURNAL OF HOETICTJLTURE AND COTTAGE GAE.DENEK. 



[ ?ebniaT7 21, 1865i 



To prevent the fruit from hanging down over the sides of 

 the pots, and the frmt-st.ilts breaking, a piece of twine is 

 strun" on the sunny side of the pots, about an inch above 

 the rim, and on this the stems rest. This is a good practice 

 when the crop is heavy and the stems long, but unless the 

 stem be drawn by hard forcing the strings are not necessary, 

 for the fruit swells all the better when the stems are bent 

 down, the fruit touching the ground on a level with, or a 

 little below, the rim of the pot. The first crop of fruit, pre- 

 suming the plants to have been treated as above, and early 

 kinds employed, will be ripe in Mai-ch. 



Successions may be obtained by introducing a batch of 

 plants into a cold frame, or pit, at the same time as the first 

 are taken into the house, putting them on a bed of leaves 

 for a fortnight, then setting them on shelves in a vinery or 

 other house having a night temperature not exceeding 40° 

 by fire heat. At the time of removing them a batch of 

 plants shov.ld be placed in the frame as before, and so on, 

 working until the middle of Febmary with the earlies, when 

 a batch of Keens' Seedling may be introduced, and also 

 Wellington and Oscai-, and a month later the British Queen 

 and other late sorts, the last lot being introduced about 

 the middle of April. It is not necessary to place the pots 

 on a bed of leaves after the middle of February, nor before 

 that time if the pots are well filled with roots, and the buds 

 well developed ; but it is desirable to have them in a cold 

 pit, fi^me, or house for a few weeks previous to introducing 

 the'm into the house where they are to fruit. There is no 

 better place than a cold vinery, or orchard-house, where 

 they will be kept rather dry until wanted, or during winter 

 if they remain there so long. 



Where there is a number of Peach-houses and vineries 

 that are started at intervals, no difficulty wiU be erperienced 

 in forcing Strawberries, a quantity being kept ready in cool 

 frames, or houses, to be drafted into the vineries and placed 

 on shelves as the houses are set to work, the temperature | 

 required for forcing Vines suiting Strawberries exactly. I 

 can remember the time when it was very common to force J 

 Strawberries in Pine-stoves, introducing them at once from 

 a cold frame into a succession-house, with a temperature of 

 55° or 60° by night, and keeping them there until the frviit 

 was set, when they were introduced into the fruiting- 

 house, the temperature being 65? at night, and i'rom 75" to 

 80O by day. Boasted in this way, I have known a fair crop 

 obtained, the Eoseberry being the favourite ; but now we ^ 

 must have a good many mouthfuls, and of good quality, j 

 instead of a taste. This can only be effected by bringing : 

 on the plants gradually, and not forcing vei-y hard untU the I 

 fruit is set; and not then except to obtain fruit very early. 

 A temperature of 60° from fire heat is as much as the ^ 

 Strawberry will bear. . i 



I need not enter upon the cultivation of Strawberries in | 

 vineries, nor treat of successional crops, an epitome of the , 

 temperature above will suffice. For the first fortnight the | 

 heat should be 40° by night, 45° by day ; during the second ; 

 fortnight, 45° by night, and 50° by day ; in the thii-d fort- | 

 night, 50° by night, and 55° by day ; in the fourth fortnight, 

 55° by night, and G0° by day; and these temperatures 

 should be maintained until the fruit is set, when it may be 

 increased to 60° by night, and 65° by day. All these relate 

 to temperatures from fire heat and on dull days. On cloudy 

 days having clear inter\-alB the thermometer may read 5° 

 higher, and on bright days from 10° to 15° higher, when, the 

 maximum amount of aii- being given, it will not matter if 

 the temperature be considerably higher, always provided 

 that it is from sun heat. 



Perhaps one of the best modes of growing Strawberries is 

 on shelves in cool vineries or orchard-houses. They also 

 succeed admirably on the borders of orchard-houses, provid- 

 ing the trees are not so close together as to shade them too 

 much ; but, taken all in all, the best place is a shelf 15 inches 

 from the roof in front or both sides of a span-roofed honse, or 

 at back and in front of a lean-to one, the back being occupied 

 with early, and the front with later sorts. Of the early 

 kinds. Black Prince, Eliza (Eivera's), Eclipse, Keens' Seed- 

 ling, and Oscar arc excellent ; and of the later sorts, British 

 Queen (extra good in an orchard-house or cool vinery) 

 Carolina Superba, La Constante, Sir Harry, and Sir Charles 

 Napier. These being raised in the manner previously stated, 

 should be kept on the borders during the winter rather dry. 



About the middle of March they should be cleared of the 

 dead leaves, and the pots cleaned and placed on the shelves, 

 first of all putting on these, grass side downwards, a turf or 

 turves, exactly the width of the shelf, and 1 inch or li inch 

 thick. If turves are not to be had, a lath, three-quarters of an 

 inch wide and 1 inch deep, nailed on both edges of the upper 

 side of each shelf, will leave on a nine-inch shelf a space 

 71 inches wide and 1 inch deep. Fill this with two- thirds 

 loam and one-third cowdung half-rotted, or rotten manure 

 ■of any kind, and on this stand the pots. Keep moist until 

 growth fairly commence, and afterwards water freely, using 

 weak liquid manure until the fruit change colour, when 

 water alone will do. The usual treatment given to these 

 cool houses suits Strawberries exactly, abundance of air and 

 light being given and a good syringing, but a close moist 

 atmosphere should never exist. 



These plants will prolong the Strawberry season at least 

 a fortnight or three weeks, the earlier kinds being ripe in 

 the latter part of Slay, and the late ones succeeding them, 

 just when the earlier varieties are coming in from the open 

 ground. 



The plants once fruited are of no ftirther use unless planted 

 in the open garden, where they may yield a few fruit in 

 autumn, and be very prolific years afterwards, especially on 

 soils where Strawberries yield plentiful crops of leaves and 

 but little fruit. In such I have found plants that have been 

 forced in pots aiford excellent crops when others yielded 

 little but leaves. 



In conclusion, fill the honse with tobacco smoke whenever 

 green f.y appears, always letting the plants be dry at the 

 time. Once growth has commenced never allow the soil to 

 become dry, but keep it well watered. Never tise saucers, 

 they rot the roots by keeping the soil sour ; use sods in pre- 

 ference, or set the pots on a shelf with laths nailed on the 

 edges, filling the shallow trough thus formed with rich 

 compost, for the water then drains away and the roots run 

 both in the sods and soU. Keep near the glass, and allow 

 the plants air above, beneath, and all round, and plenty 

 of it. Give manure water after the fruit is set as often as 

 you like, but let it be weak, and use no more fire heat than 

 is necessary to maintain a steady progressive growth. Grow 

 plants anywhere, securing these conditions, and the result 

 wUl be an abundant crop of excellent fruit ; but that must 

 exist in embryo before commencing to force. — G. Abbet. 



WAEDEE LODGE, 



The Eesidence of Miss Hope. 



This beautiful suburban residence is situated upon an 

 eminence overlooking the Firth of Forth, about two miles 

 distant from Edinburgh. The mansion is a commodious 

 structure of Grecian architecture ; and fi-om the principal 

 windows a magnificent panoramic view is obtained of the 

 noble estuary of the Forth, stretching like a gigantic mirror 

 for several miles to the west, and reflecting from its glassy 

 surface the image of many a smiling town, and village, and 

 mansion, on its northern banks, as well as of the fertile 

 fields and varied park and woodland scenery along its 

 southern shore, receding behind the undulating and varied 

 country that lies beyond, until obscured in the shadowy 

 outline of the Ochil HOls. 



The grounds around the mansion are about four acres in 

 extent, and are laid out in a style well suited to the 

 rich landscape with which they are brought in contrast. 

 Kunning the entire length of the western boundary, which 

 descends with a steep incline towards the sea, is a broad 

 belt of trees serving the double purpose of shelter and 

 ornament, and through which flows a small stream of water, 

 leaping onward with increasing speed as it nears the sea. 

 This has been converted into what may be called a sub- 

 alpine garden, which in summer forms a pleasing relief from 

 the flower garden ; here are introduced nearly all the native 

 plants usually found in similar situations, as well as exotics 

 of a kindred nature, and so carefully and tastefully are they 

 disposed that one is almost constrained to believe that they 

 have been placed there by the hand of nature. At the bottom 

 of this incline, and forming the northern boundary, is a border 

 devoted exclusively to the cultivation of herbaceous plants, 

 for the purpose of testing their ornamental qualities, or uses 



Jl 



