290 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIcaLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 11, 1865. 



"WH-AT IS THE BEST POSITION FOE 

 FORCLNCt STIUWBEKEIES .= 



The excellent and practical notes on this subject, at 

 page 189, by your esteemed correspondent Mr. In;;ram in- 

 duce me to offer a few additional observations deduced 

 from my own experience. Mr. Ingram endorses my views 

 generally on forcing Strawberries, and agrees with me as to 

 the essentials for their successful growth — viz., light or close 

 proximity to the glass, and ample ventilation — air above, 

 below, and all round the plants — to which Mr. Ingram adds, 

 " the roots should always be kept cool and moist." 



Though identical in om- views on the subject, we differ as 

 to the best mode of securing these conditions. I, like Mr. 

 Ingram, was led to the idea of having shelves fixed on the 

 roofs of houses for forcing Strawberries from " finding that 

 Strawberries always succeeded on shelves placed in the 

 front of lean-to houses close to where the roof-lights rested 

 on the front supporting plate, and where a little aii- con- 

 stantly entered ; at the same time the pot was shaded from 

 the sun by the thickness of the plate." This was one rea- 

 son, but another very forcible one was that plants on a back 

 shelf, where they received more light, a little air constantly 

 entering, and the pots receiving a little warmth from the sun, 

 were found to do better than those on the front shelf from 

 December to March, when the objections raised by Mr. In- 

 gram as to the sun's rays acting on the pots and destroying 

 or injuring the roots came into force and reversed the case, 

 the plants on the front shelf being the best after Pebiuary. 



Acting on experience, and there being a deficiency of ac- 

 commodation for Strawberry plants, I was under the neces- 

 sity of furnishing a house with shelves suspended like the 

 front shelves from the roof. An early vinery being then 

 empty and awaiting the planting of the Vines in spring, the 

 Strawberries were placed on the shelves in December, and 

 the result was a crop of Black Prince Strawberries in March. 

 In that raor^th the Vines were planted, and the shelves re- 

 occupied with Strawberries. These did not afford so good 

 a crop as the first, though the advanced season was more in 

 their favour. Mr. Ingram very appropriately describes the 

 cause — " the scorching effe>;ts of the sun in the bright drying 

 weather of March " and April had done the mischief. The 

 shelves answering so well for the fu'st crop, more were ob- 

 tained and fixed on the roof of a span-roofed house, having 

 the ends due north and south, and the plants in this afforded 

 a good crop. The only reason that could be assigned was, 

 that the sin's rays did not heat the pots so much as in the 

 lean-to, tliey not receiving the direct mid-day sun, the 

 foliage affording the pots a slight shade, and in the after- 

 noon or morning the sun was not so powerful as to injure 

 the plants. 



Deciding according to the evidence in these cases the 

 plants can neither have too much light nor too sunny a 

 situation I'rom December to March, a lean-to being then 

 the best ; but after February they can have too sunny a 

 position, unless prompt measures bo taken to protect the 

 pots, which being done, too much light cannot bo given. 

 A span-rool'ed house is then the best. 



The shelves being moveable, and capable of being fixed 

 in any house not tilled with its regular occupants, they 

 can be put up in any house securing the conditions which, 

 according to the season oi' the year, are best suited for the 

 plants ; but if there be no greater objection to them than 

 that of ihe exposure of the pots to the drying and heating 

 effects ol llie sun, that difficulty is easily surmounted by 

 haviof; a quarter-inch board nailed on the side of the shelves 

 Bufficicnlly high to protect thera. I liave found this answer 

 the samii purpose as the front supporting plate, protecting 

 the pots iroui the sun, and keeping them cool and moist, at 

 the game timo preventing the drying influences of the in- 

 croased curn-nt of air necessary to keep down the tempero- 

 tnro of tlie liouse. 



I do not think there was any, if much, difference between 

 the planlH on the xbclvca in the centre of tho house and those 

 on the Blu-'lves dose to where fresh air was admitted, the 

 produce liemgi'qually good on all, though those on the shelves 

 near the openingB did not, perhaps, afford the same quantity 

 and quality of fruit that they would have done had tho 

 necessity lur ^ivini; air been less. That such was the case 

 is very likely, for I found that two shelves placed under the 



apex of a span-roofed house did not yield one-half the fruit 

 produced on two shelves placed along the sides by the fr-ont 

 supporting plates, whore the fresh air entered the house, 

 there being no ventilation at the top, which is the case with 

 many orchard-houses, and is, I think, a mistake; for what 

 is the good of ventilation if foul air be not displaced by 

 fresh ? I think the Strawberry-house at EnviUe, figured at 

 page 35-t of Vol. VII., open to this objection; though the 

 roof is only a half-span, that part at top formed by the back 

 lights must constantly be surcharged with the impurities of 

 the house carried there by the ascending heat, for which there 

 is no escape. The span-roofed house above alluded to having 

 been altered so that fresh air was admitted or foul air let 

 out, after that the plants were better there than on the 

 side shelves. 



If a house could be exclusively devoted to the forcing of 

 Strawberries it might be desirable to have a stage as in the 

 house at Enville, the room being employed for forwarding 

 plants for flowering in winter; but it is open to the objections 

 raised by Mr. Ingram, and unless a house of the kind were 

 unoccupied or could be spared it would not be advisable to 

 erect such for forcing Strawberries, for whilst building or 

 constructing a Strawberry-house it would be as well to have 

 one calculated to meet all the demands of the plants. The 

 requirements in forcing Strawberries are close proximity to 

 the glass, without being so near as to scorch them, a little 

 air at all times, and a cool moist situation. These con- 

 ditions are secured in all theu' integrity in none of the usual 

 structures found in gardens, and cannot be unless a house 

 is constructed on purpose, which is what I believe Mr. In- 

 gram has done, and found to answer perfectly, adding 

 another benefit from a family that has done much for horti- 

 culture. — G. Abbey. 



DEVONIENSIS EOSE versus CLIMBING 

 DEVONIENSIS. 

 Pebmit me to say a few more words on our old favourite 

 Rose. Mr. Curtis still thinks this is a distinct variety fr-om 

 the old one ; he says during his rambles he met with it in 

 several places. Can Mr. Curtis bring proof that the plants 

 he saw were jjlanted previous to 1858 ? if so, from whom 

 were they obtained ? I believe all the climbing ones have 

 been obtained from plants sent out by me in 1858. I am 

 only surprised that Mr. Curtis should want the public to 

 believe that his is distinct. If his variety that he says he 

 so improved upon is distinct, why should he have written 

 to me some few months since requesting to be supplied with 

 1000 plants ? If Mr. Curtis in his rambles will kindly pay me 

 a visit I will show him the parent plant, which is scarcely 

 18 inches high, but the offspring are growing as wild as any 

 of the Ayrshire Roses in the heart of this city. — Samitbl 

 Pavitt, Ease Cottage, Bathwiclc, Bath. 



KEEPING FOR A YEAE EANUNCULUS AND 

 ANEMONE TUBERS UNPLANTBD. 



I WAS spending the winter at Naples six or seven years 

 ago, when I became acquainted with the gardener at the 

 Royal Palace of Capo-di-Monte. At tho timo of which I 

 write there were some Ranunculuses coming into bloom, and 

 the size of the flowers surprised me, thoy being very much 

 larger than any I had ever seen at home. I was informed by 

 tho gardener, that to obtain largo flowers tho roots should 

 bo kept dry for a whole year before being planted, that, in 

 fact, they should be planted only in alternate years. On 

 returning home I reported this to my own gardener, who, 

 with evident pity for my ignorance, told me that if kept dry 

 for BO long they would not start at all when planted. 



Two years later I was at Rome, and in making my way 

 from the church of S. Pietro in Montorio, to tho Colosseum, 

 I camo across a nursery garden, in which thero was a fine 

 collection of my old Italian acquaintances, tho giant Ranun- 

 culus. On a second visit, I found the owner, and imme- 

 diately questioned him about this system of resting the 

 roots. Tho nurseryman told me that he was a native of 

 Hamburgh, and had been brought to Itomo to take charge of 

 some noble's villa. In his own country, Ranunculus-growing 



