89G 



JOURNAL OF HOETICXTLXfrKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 23, 1865. 



you will tell us when the meteorological day ends. I am 

 induced to ask this from observing; in your record of the 

 minimum temperature, and also in that of Chiswick, that I 

 am always a day before the records. For instance: the 

 minimum temperature of 23°, which you give as happening 

 on the 30th of April, did not take place till the morning of 

 the 1st of May, accordingly I enter it as taking place on 

 that day ; but I find, as stated above, that in the Cliis\vick, 

 and also in your " Meteorological Observations," it is 

 entered as taking place on April 30th. Does the meteoro- 

 logical day last till the following morning ? — T. R. 



[The Chiswick meteorological day is reckoned from 8 a.m 

 to 8 A. 31. again, and the highest and lowest temperatures 

 which have occurred during the interval are registered to 

 the day to which the first S a.m. belongs. Thus, the lowest 

 temperature in the twenty-four hours between 8 a.m. on the 

 30th of April and S a.m. on the 1st of May was 23°, or 9° 

 below freezing — that indication, therefore, is put down to 

 the 30th of April. This is the practice of meteorologists 

 generally.] 



CEOSS-BEEEDIKG STEAWBEEEIES. 



The statement made at page 362, only referred to Straw- 

 berries grown out of doors, and my friend, Mr. Standish, 

 gives it a wider scope than I intended, when he applies it 

 to plants under glass, and subjected to an artificial mode of 

 treatment. There is no analogy between the two modes of 

 culture, and no progress (as far as the million are concerned) 

 can be looked for from seeds obtained from forced plants. 

 My basis of argument is, therefore, different from that of 

 Mr. Standish. 



As to a large number of Strawben-y plants going blind 

 when forced, experienced growers know that some varieties 

 are better adapted for forcing than others, and the cause 

 of theii- becoming blind is also pretty well known, i have 

 practised successfully this branch of culture for thirty-fivo 

 years, and for ten of these consecutively. After a series of 

 experiments, I found that the runners of the preceding year 

 allowed to establish themselves around the parent plant, are 

 those which ofl'er the best chance of success, if in the follow- 

 ing September they are taken up with all their roots and 

 leaves, and planted singly in pots 4 inches in diameter, and 

 5 inches deep, half an inch being left for drainage. It is 

 unnecessary to state here what compost should be used; 

 the Strawberry takes soonest in a good rich compost in 

 which the fibrous roots can run. In potting care is taken 

 t-o give these roots an oblique direction from east to west, 

 following the course of the sun, and to pot the plants up to 

 the neck in order that adventitious roots may be produced, 

 as well as fibrils and spongioles. Plants with a large, 

 compact, well-furnished crown are the best. After potting, 

 the pots should be placed in a spot sheltered fi-om the sun's 

 ray.s and di-ying winds ; but when the plants have taken 

 fresh root they are exposed to the sun. Here the crown 

 becomes firm and more solid, and it is from a well-established 

 crown of this kind that perfect flowers and fine fruit must 

 be expected. The footstallcs of the flowers spring from the 

 sides of the crown at the points where the runners are 

 emitted, but the ci-own nourishes them by developing the 

 leaves which draw towards the flowers and fruit the nourish- 

 ment taken up by the spongioles. The crown must not he 

 excited till the approach of the shortest day, or soon after- 

 wards. This is the time at which tlie sap of all plants 

 Iwgins to become active, and their seeds to germinate, when 

 placed in a moist artificial heat. If, notwithstanding these 

 precautions the flowers prove abortive, their doing so must 

 be attributed to too high ateraper.ature. to want of sufticicnt 

 air, or to too little water being given, from one or other of 

 which causes the organs of fructification have been im- 

 perfectly formed. 



Whilst writing these lines I have received a letter from 

 a constant reader of The Jocbnai, of Hoeticultube, who, 

 living in the country, has both the leisure and desire to ex- 

 periment in raising varieties from seed, and he asks for 

 further information on a point in one of my articles — namely, 

 the choice of the seed of the Strawberry. 



Though I positively have not the time to reply to this 

 kind of correspondence, still as my views on the subject may 

 be of some interest to others as well as himself, I willingly 



accede to his request, hoping, however, that it will be the 

 last time I may be called upon to write upon the Strawberry, 

 being anxious to take up a subject of greater importance. 



The seeds of the Strawberry, as any one knows who has 

 oaten the fruit during half a century, are dotted over the 

 surface of the fruit, or sunk beneath it in little pits. When 

 a variety possesses desirable qualities, and the plants have 

 been well gro^vn, are vigorous, three or four years old, and 

 have been in the same position for two years, we see arise 

 in spring from the two sides of the plant and its sub- 

 divisions around the crown, two, three, or four foot-stalks 

 each 3 or 4 inches long, and producing at the end of the 

 pedicels from five to ten or more flowers. Which of these 

 flowers is it best to retain in order to have perfect seeds ? 

 That which is in the midst of the corymb, and which has 

 the thickest pedicel, allowing each plant to bear only two 

 or three fruit. The whole of the sap being directed to- 

 wards these, they ought to exhibit the fuU degree of per- 

 fection as regards form which the variety possesses, and the 

 seeds ought to be large, and have a high degree of vitality, 

 especially if the fruit has been allowed to ripen perfectly. 

 In ord3r that this may be the case, the fruit attached to its 

 pedicel and the common footstalk, is laid along a flower- 

 pot placed on its side. 



When the fruit is gathered the upper part is taken oflf 

 and thrown away, and the middle portion all round the fruit 

 is alone preserved. The seeds are left in their receptacles 

 to complete their ripening, and become solid. This portion 

 of the fruit is kept in a paper bag, open at top, hung up in 

 a place \vith a mean temperature of from 50° to 60° till the 

 time of sowing. The most suitable period for doing this is 

 in the course of January. The seed is sown in pots, or pans, 

 of light sandy soil in the same way as other small seeds, 

 and they are barely covered, bedewing them lightly and 

 placing a glass over them. The pots are then placed in a 

 pit or greenhouse, and as near as possible to the glass. When 

 the radicle and plumule are perceived, some light soil is 

 scattered over the surface, and when the seed-leaves have 

 grown a little, the seedlings are pricked out singly in smaU 

 pots, watered gently but freely, and placed close to the glass 

 on a shelf in a greenhouse. By the end of March the young 

 plants will have gained some degree of strength, and if the 

 weather is favourable they may be placed out of doors. In 

 April or May they may be planted out 18 inches apart, and 

 to prevent mist.akes the runners are cut off as they appear. 

 Not unfrequently young fruit are perceived on these seed- 

 lings in the following July, but it is only in the second year 

 that thehf merits can be judged of with any degree of 

 certainty. To every plant remarkable for its growth, fine 

 fruit, or other qualities, a piece of stick is placed as a dis- 

 tinctive mark. In September these plants are numbered 

 regularly, taken up along with their runners, and planted 

 3! feet apart in a bed by themselves. There the task of 

 studying them and noting their qualities should be carried 

 on, and it is not completed up to a certain point until after 

 the second year of bearing — that is, till four an.l a half years 

 after sowing. 



The remaining seedlings, those not marked and planted 

 by themselves, are replanted after throwing away all those 

 wliich from their growth and bearing are not SMtisfactory to 

 tlio raiser. It is rare to find among such plant.s a varietyof 

 particular- merit, for a really good seedling usu dly exhibits 

 its characteristics when .lighteen months old, luid these are 

 pretty generally maintiiiued even in yearling j.lants. This 

 observation likewise ai.i.lies pretty generally to all other 

 seedling fruit trees. — J. 1)E .ToNaiiu, llnisseU. 



Mr. Db JoNciiE says that when he hears of any one 

 having artificially fertilised a flower of any hermaphrodite 

 Slrawberiy he doubts the truth of the statement. I am 

 perfectly confident that I made seven or eight distinct 

 crosses lasi sumiiior. The plan I adopted wiis this : Early 

 in the spring I potted p'^nts of the varieties ii. .nded for the 

 seod-boarors. These 1 placed in a glass suucturo, from 

 which insects were carefully excluded. As soon as it was 

 l)OHsible to do so I turned back the corolla of every flower 

 (I only loft five on each jilant), and with a sharp-pointed 

 pair of scissors cut away and throw out of the house the 

 stamens and anthers. So soon as the flower was perfectly 

 expanded, and .about noon, I carried the pot to the bed con- 



