152 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Angust 23, 1877. 



Secretary and Committee worked heartily, and that kind feeling 

 and good fellowship marked all the procet dings of tbe day, 

 which I hope may also have proved financially a success. — 

 J)., Deal. 



STEAWBEERY CULTURE. 



I aqeee with " W. S. P." that there is a great difference in 

 the proper treatment of Strawberries on light and Btrong soils. 

 My soil is a sandy loam, and runnere, however carefully 

 prepared, will not give a good or full crop of Strawberries the 

 next season, but the second — that is, two years after planting, 

 they are fine, and if proper care is taken in cutting-off the 

 runners and separating the plants immediately after the fruit- 

 ing season is over, not delaying the work till the rows are 

 matted into one whole bed, there will be jast as good if not a 

 better crop, with a winter's mulching of manure, the third year 

 as the second. Strawberries in light soil by careful manage- 

 ment may be made to bear good crops for many years. No 

 doubt in strong soils the plants may be fruited one year after 

 planting and produce good crops, but Strawberry runners in 

 strong soils are seldom fit for early planting. 



It is a good plan, if the ground is not ready to plant early in 

 Angust, to prick runners in rich soil under a cold frame. I 

 have frames for this purpose about 9 feet long and 2 feet wide, 

 the glass being merely loose strong sheets of 21-oz. glass 

 2 feet long and 20 inches wide laid on the top of the frame 

 and secured with a wire pin. The frames are made slightly to 

 elope, being about 7 inches high at the back and 3J in the 

 front, and grooved at the back to hold the glass. The corners 

 of the frames are raised on bricks. As the Strawberry runners 

 grow care is taken to keep them well watered, and to prevent 

 fresh runners being thrown out. If plants! about 5 or 6 inches 

 apart they may be taken-up with balls and transplanted when- 

 ever the ground is ready, and they will do better than runners 

 taken off the plants earlier and put into their fruiting quarters 

 at once. As to distance, the rows Bhould not be less than 

 2 feet apart nor less than 20 inches between the plants. Never 

 make a bed of more than three rows, then leave a space of 

 4 feet so as to make your distance between the beds double 

 that between the rows ; this not only gives room for picking, 

 but prevents the sorts running one into another and becoming 

 mixed. In light soils mulch well in the winter months. Take 

 the mulching off in the middle of April, leaving the beds 

 exposed to the full sun and air till the flowering season, then 

 litter the ground (after giving a good watering with liquid 

 manure if the soil is at all dry), with chopped Btraw strewn 

 not too heavily between and amongst the plants. It has one 

 great advantage over long straw, that the plants do not require 

 to be so much pulled about by the hand, and that no snails or 

 slugs can work amongst it, especially if barley straw with 

 barley chaff is used. Now as to sorts. 



I have discarded Black Prince and Keens' Seedling. I find 

 no sorts bo good for general purposes as VicomtesBe Hericart 

 de Thury, Sir Joseph Paxton, Lucas, and President; then 

 for late, Myatt's Eleanor and Eliza. Dr. Hogg and British 

 Queen do not do well with me. A.mongst other very good sorts 

 are James Veitch, a fine large Strawberry and free bearer ; 

 Cockscomb, Bonne Bouehe, and John Powell. Among newer 

 varieties Traveller promises exceedingly well ; La Grosse Sucree 

 is a very handsome fruit, but not so good as it looks ; Souvenir 

 de Eieff is with me a decided failure, only slightly better than 

 Sir C. Napier, which is soft and tasteless. Amongst other 

 sorts I have tried and discarded are La Constante, Carolina 

 Superba, Aromatic, Royalty, Sabreur, and Triompbe de Paris 

 (the latter is very fine flavoured but delicate), Ne Plus Ultra 

 and Comte de Zahn. Another Strawberry I have forgotten to 

 mention is Princess Dagmar, very good in point of flavour, 

 evidently with a cross of the old Hautbois in it ; and Filbert 

 Pine is worth trying in moBt gardens. 



I was in hopes of being able to give some report of twelve 

 seedlings kindly sent me by Dr. Roden, but the season has 

 been 60 very bad for Strawberries here, especially in a new 

 quarter recently added from a grass field, even though the top 

 spit with the grass on it was carefully buried not far from the 

 surface, that I cannot give a very definite report. Those 

 which I was much pleased with were Early Filbert Pine, 

 Scarlet Pine, Excelsior, Enchantress, Duke of Edinburgh, and 

 Hundredfold ; but the trial has not been a fair one, as after an 

 open winter we had cold winds and bitter frosts in April and 

 May till nearly the second week in Jane, then a period of dry 

 weather for three or four weeks, followed by deluges of rain 

 just as the fruit bad set, and the quarter where these plants 



were growing proved too light and sandy, and exposed too 

 much to full sunshine. The sorts I had on trial were Sir John 

 Falstaff, Bonny Lass, Gipsy Queen, Amy Robsart, Hundred- 

 fold, Alpha, Excelsior, Scarlet Pine, Early Prolific, Duke of 

 Edinburgh, Early Crimson Pine, and Enchantress. They nearly 

 all seemed to be a high quality of fruit and good bearers, but 

 for the reasons before stated the trial has not been satisfactory. 

 To conclude, I do not on the whole know three better Straw- 

 berries for general purposes than Lucas, Sir Joseph Paxton, 

 and President. I do not think Lucas is sufficiently known or 

 grown. It is not a very large Strawberry, but possesses fine 

 flavour, is very firm, and stands all weather well, is a sure 

 setter, and lasts a long time in season. — C. P. P. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



August 21st. 



Only a little fruit was submitted to the Committee on this 

 occasion, yet the Council-room presented an attractive appear- 

 ance, for the tables surrounding the room were quite filled with 

 plants and flowers, eeveral of which well merited the marks of 

 approval expressed by the Committee. 



Fruit Committee. — Henry Webb, Esq., V.P., in the chair. 

 Mr. Burnett, The Gardens, Deepdene, sent a well-netted and 

 good-flavoured fruit of Melon Incomparable, for which a letter 

 of tbanks was voted ; a similar mark of recognition being 

 passed to Mr. Long, gardener to J. S. Law, Esq., South Lodge, 

 Reigate, tor a very large and good seedling Melon named South 

 Lodge. Mr. Tillery, The Gardens, Welbeck, sent a dish of very 

 fine Victoria Nectarines, and was awarded a cultural com- 

 mendation. MessrB. Kelway & Son, Langport, sent Cucumber 

 Lord Beaconsfield, which was not considered sufficiently dis- 

 tinct from the old (not Rollisson's), Telegraph ; also Prince of 

 Wales, which cloBely resembles Daniell's Duke of Edinburgh. 

 Mr. Morse, gardener to W. Proctor Baker, Esq., Bromwell 

 HouBe, Burlington, Bristol, sent a seedling Grape the result of 

 a cross between the Black Hamburgh and Muscat of Alexandria; 

 It is amber-coloured, but as exhibited was not considered to 

 possess special merit. Louis Killick, Esq., Langley, MaidBtone, 

 sent a dish of "Stone" Apple, an early free-bearing kitchen 

 variety which is very popular in Kent, but the fruit was not 

 sufficiently ripe for adjudication. From the Society's Gardens 

 came a dish of American Crab, very good ; Madeleine Royal and 

 Royal Muscadine Grapes, Trebons Onions, and a coarse-look- 

 ing Cabbage named " Santung." In anBwer to an inquiry as to 

 classing Rhubarb as a fruit or a vegetable, it was decided that 

 it might be most properly exhibited as a vegetable only. 



Floeai, Committee. — G. F. Wilson, Esq., F.R.S., in the 

 ohair. MessrB. James Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nurseries, 

 Chelsea, exhibited a collection of choice plants, including 

 several Orchids. Cattleya gigas had gorgeous flowers, and 

 Cattleyas Loddigesii and dolosa, Ltelia Dayana, Dendrocbilum 

 filiforme, and others were very attractive. Lapageria alba, a 

 small plant with handsome wax-like flowers, spoke for itself of 

 its great value as a decorative plant. Abutilon Boule d'Or, a 

 new free-flowering variety of great promise, was exhibited by this 

 firm. The flowers are a soft yet bright yellow, and contrast 

 effectively wiih the dark green foliage. Also a very distinct 

 Begonia, Queen of Whites, of the B. Veitchii type, the flowers 

 being almost pure white, large, and of great substance. A first- 

 class certificate was awarded. A similar award was made for 

 Oncidium prsetexum, very free, yellow lip margined with 

 chestnut. 



Mr. B. S. Williams, Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, staged 

 a small collection of plants, including a splendid specimen of 

 Ixora WilliamBii, showing its floriftrous character, the plant 

 having flowered twice previously this year. It is one of the 

 most distinct and valuable of the Ixoras. Mr. Williams also 

 exhibited Croton fasciatus with very large Magnolia-like foliage, 

 veined and margined with yellow ; also Lilium auratum macu- 

 latum, densely spotted ; and Phaiua Dodgsoni. This is a fine 

 Orchid, the growths of 2 to 3 feet high, terminating with short 

 spikes of a dozen flowers, ivory white with pale cinnamon lipB 

 — very attractive. A firsjt-class certificate was awarded to this 

 plant, and a vote of thanks for the Ixora. 



Messrs. Kelway & Son, The Nurseries, Langport, Somerset, 

 exhibited spikes of fifty varieties of new Gladioluses, which 

 produced a rich effect. A vote of thankB was awarded for the 

 collection, and first-class certificates for the following five va- 

 rieties: — Cymbaline, pink with faint stripes of rose, and white 

 centre; the prevailing colour of the flowers being much like 

 that of OdontogloBsum vexillarium ; very smooth and fine. 

 Prince George, a rich flame scarlet with crimson base and faint 

 wh te stripeB ; very effective. The Odalisque, creamy white, 

 with claret throat— a smooth charming flower of great sub- 

 stance of petal. Charles Noble, orange scarlet, flaked and 

 feathered with rose and white; striking. Baroness Burdett 

 Coutts, white with a claret blotch, shaded with violet; extra 



