November 80, 1871. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



411 



November, as does John Powell. Other varieties that I have 

 Irnited are Swainstone's Seedling, Rivera's Eliza, La Constante, 

 and Mjatt's Qainquefolia, but they will not at all compare with 

 the former for fertility. I would advise trying these, and if 

 you find you succeed tolerably well afler one season, you may 

 purchase them as certain and prolific croppers. I. am rather a 

 large grower both as regards number of varieties and extent of 

 ground. 



I ought to mention some varieties that will not fruit at all, 

 although a few of them may be induced to flower. The old 

 Carolina, for example, has profuse and fine healthy flowers as 

 large as a half-crown, but I do not remember to have ever 

 gathered one fruit. British Queen, La Chalonnaise, Carolina 

 Superba, and Mr. Radcljffe flower very soaringly or not at all ; 

 Princess Alice Maude and Goliath (Eitley's) have only an occa- 

 sional fruit ; whilst Dr. Hogg and Souvenir de Kief bear few 

 but fine berries. 



My Strawberry garden is on the south side of a hill, sloping 

 abruptly and very stony, so as to be quickly afiected by drought ; 

 the consequence has therefore been not only a frequent loss of 

 the crop, but sometimes the destruction of the plants, and such 

 a drying-up of the foliage that you might take it in your hand 

 and reduce it to powder. The first time I had a crop I at once 

 saw that it was after a period of rest that a crop of fruit was 

 produced, whether in consequence of the cold of winter or tfce 

 dry heat of summer. Then came the question how this could 

 be effected artificially, and my experience has shown me that 

 the best way is to have your plants in some way under con- 

 trol, and it may be done in the following ways. For a bed 

 select some sheltered spot, either by a wall (of course not your 

 ordinary fruit wall), or by some evergreen shrubs, and with an 

 aspect as nearly south as possible ; take oat the soil to at least 

 3 feet deep, and not more than 4 feet wide ; fill the excavated 

 space to the depth of quite 2 feet with stones and rubble, and 

 the remaining foot with good open soil. Thus will be secured 

 thorough drainage, which is absolutely necessary for the pro- 

 duction of a crop, and such a bed or border should be made to 

 slope very rapidly — if 4or 5 inches to the foot ao much the 

 better. 



Planting may be done in various ways ; for instance, you 

 may employ plants previously used for forcing, especially any 

 that have failed to bear a crop ; these, if they have been forced 

 early, will come in by the end of July. You may plant very 

 early in the spring, but planting at the ordinary time — August 

 or September — is much better. Plants put in during the 

 spring should have every encouragement to make growth, while 

 those planted early in August will need no care. Allow the 

 ordinary plants to grow on till some of the fruit is nearly ripe, 

 and then place spare lights over them when it rains, and at 

 night if rain is expected ; for particular attention must be paid 

 to give the period of rest. You may make a framework for lights, 

 or whatever may be used to keep ofi rain (lights, or glass 

 covering of some sort being, of course, the best) in the following 

 way: — Select some tolerably straight poles, cut them into 

 2J-feet lengths, make one end somewhat pointed, bore holes 

 with an iron bar, at the width of the lights apart, to the depth 

 of about 18 inches, and with a wooden mallet drive in each 

 pole till you have about 1 f JOt above your bed or border, and 

 on the tops of these nail lengthwise common battens. The same 

 material will do to nail across between each light, unless the 

 lights are very large and heavy, and then, of course, something 

 stronger will be necessary ; but it will be found that posts 

 fixed in this way will be much firmer than those put in by 

 digging a hole and ramming the soil about them, to say nothing 

 about disturbing the ground. Some fastening will be needed 

 at the top to prevent the lights running down, which they 

 otherwise would do. 



Having by the means described brought the plants into a 

 state of rest, although only for two or three weeks, they may 

 be again started into growth (but it only one variety is grown, 

 some must have a longer rest in order that a succession may 

 be kept up), by removing the lights altogether, and leaving the 

 plants to themselves till the fruit is near maturity ; then re- 

 course must be had to lights again, in order to keep off exces- 

 sive rain, which would materially injure the berries both in 

 texture and flavour, but the plants will be much better un- 

 covered save in very heavy and continuous rain. About the end 

 of September it will be necessary to be on guard against frost, 

 for a severe frost will greatly injure the fruit, and a very slight 

 frost will injure the flowers. 



This mode of treatment will carry ua on to the middle of 

 November with tolerable safety, but cannot be depended upon 



afterwards. If, then, it is desired to continue the succession 

 say another month, such a result can only be attained with 

 pot plants, and these must not be forced plants of the previous 

 spring, for although the latter grow well in the open ground 

 when planted out, they will not produce a good crop in autumn 

 it kept in pots. It will be necessary to have good plants, and 

 these yon may obtain as follows. If it were three months 

 earlier one might get plants just as for early forcing — that is, 

 by plunging small pots in the ground, and fixing the runner 

 on the soil by laying upon them small stones, and when they 

 were well rooted taking them up, giving them a shift into 

 a larger pot, and wintering them in the usual way. Bat as this 

 cannot be done now, the next best method is to take up plants 

 early with balls, pot, and plunge the pots up to the rims in 

 a bed of ashes about 4 feet wide, growing them on in just the 

 same way as those planted out in beds, only not starting them 

 into growth till two or three weeks later than those in the 

 beds. They will thrive best in the bed of ashes till about the 

 beginning of September or later, care being taken to keep off 

 excessive wet and frost as directed for those planted out. In 

 an orchard house the plants will succeed admirably with abun- 

 dance of air till late in November, but after that timethey should 

 be removed to the back shelf of a greenhouse, where they will 

 be near the glass and have plenty of light and air ; or it yon 

 want them to come on a little more rapidly, place them in a 

 position where they may have a little heat, but it must be very 

 little, otherwise you will lose your crop, or a considerable por- 

 tion of it. 



Naturally the same variety continues a long time in bearing. 

 From Patrick's Seedling, for instance, I gathered for about 

 nine weeks, but there was only one gathering last week ; the 

 interval between that and the preceding gathering was two or 

 three days over a week, and we gathered only once in the week 

 previous, but up till then twice a-week. The other variety of 

 which I cannot give the name, which is very handsome and 

 good under the same circumstances, and treated just like Pa- 

 trick's Seedling, comes in quite three or four weeks earlier, but 

 will not produce longer than seven or eight weeks, and then 

 the late gatherings are poor. The crop comes in more at one 

 time than that of Patiiok's Seedling. 



I must say again. Be careful in the resting season to keep 

 the plants as healthy as possible. I have never had so abundant 

 a crop as I have had this season, for the plants were injured 

 before, and I should have failed to give such directions last 

 season as I am able to do this. I have no doubt many of your 

 correspondents will beat me altogether in about two seasons. 

 My gatherings altogether have been about fifty-nine quarts, it 

 may be a few more, and principally from the two varieties, and 

 many of the berries were very fine both as to size, appearance, 

 and flavour. 



If anyone should be desirous to make a bed at once he may 

 do so if possessing an abundance of spare plants, otherwise it 

 will be much better to plant in very mild weather at the end of 

 February or in March, for many of the plants put in at this 

 season would run a great risk of being thrown out of the 

 ground by the frost and killed. Do not keep the plants unne- 

 cessarily covered, for under the lights there will be a draught 

 of air which in the autumn is very chilly, and, although it 

 does not hurt the fruit so mnch as wet, it injures the flowers. — 

 G. Lee, Clevedon, 



SELECT ROSES. 

 Mk. W. Paul's selection of Roses will, no doubt, be of 

 much service to many of your readers. After several years' 

 experience as a Rose-grower on a loam with a clay subsoil, I 

 find the following answer my purpose as exhibition flowers : — 

 Alfred Colomb, Abel Grand, Madame la Baronne de Rothschild, 

 Madame Vidot, Maiie Baumann, Charles Lefebvre, Duke of 

 Edinburgh, Margchal Niel, Pierre Nottinp, SSnateur Vaisse, 

 Louis Van Hontte, and Belle Ljonnaise. — William Caudwekl. 



I THINK " An Amateuh, South of Ireland" has been too 

 hasty in his condemnation of Marie Baumann if, as I judge 

 from his letter, though I may be mistaken, he has decided from 

 a single plant. I am eliciting the opinions of Rose-growers as 

 to the best twelve and thirty-six Roses, and hope to be able to 

 publish the returns in your next number. At present I have 

 fourteen lists sent to me in answer to my request, and thirteen 

 out of the fourteen place Marie Baurnanu among the first 

 twelve ; the fourteenth places it first in the list of the next 

 twenty-four. Tbi=, as far as the returns go, makes Marie Ban- 



