162 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 23, 1S72. 



miserable appearance. It is also highly necessary to place a 

 stick to each spike to prevent it from breaking over close to 

 the ground. Amateurs who have little or no knowledge of 

 this plant ought to grow it. 



Glass protection is not essential to the culture of the Phlox, 

 as cuttings readily throw out roots in the open ground, and 

 they can be at once transplanted into beds. Not half the 

 trouble is required to grow it that there is with scarlet Gera- 

 niums and other bedding plants which require to be wintered 

 in a glass house. — J. Douglas. 



STEAWBEEEIES ON A LIGHT SOIL. 



I can give confirmatory evidence of the mode of growing, 

 detailed by the Eev. C. P. Peach, on page 108. 



I am quite certain that the great point to be attended to in 

 light soil is to have it firm. I am not quite so sure, however, 

 that is generally safe to make a cardinal point of raking the 

 manure put on in autumn clean off the following April. I 

 do not mean to say the practice is to be deprecated, but it 

 requires a little thought in carrying it out, such as is sure to 

 be given by practical men ; but, perhaps, not so surely by 

 others who like Strawberries, and try to grow them almost 

 solely by book-guidance. I once saw a Strawberry crop nearly 

 ruined by the clean raking-off of the manure in April, and the 

 lesson I have never forgot. It was a large bed of Keens' 

 Seedling, and I was one of the rakers acting under instructions. 

 I had at that time been fourteen or fifteen years in the houses 

 as foreman, <Ssc'., and a notion came over me of a danger of 

 getting a little too kid-gloved in habit, and lacking a suffi- 

 ciency of practical knowledge in kitchen gardening. I there- 

 fore determined on a retrograde step, and although it may 

 seem paradoxical, the retrograde movement was the greatest 

 step in advance I ever made in gardening, and one which I 

 have found the most useful. I had had a surf eit of the' houses 

 and meant to be out of them for a time. I desired out-door 

 work, and offers of kitchen-garden foreman were made, but 

 the idea of playing foreman over a lot of men ten times more 

 experienced than myself was too much for me, so instead of 

 being foreman over, I preferred to be labourer working with 

 some good men of life-experience in out-door work. I could 

 hear sinister hints at a " let-down," but the only way I felt the 

 let-down was 12s. per week instead of 17s. ; yet I knew I was 

 a learner and put up with it, and it was here I learned the 

 following: — Orders were to rake the manure clean off. In 

 went the rakes and up came the beautiful white young fibres 

 of the Strawberries. The ground bristled with them. The 

 sun shone brightly and browned and burnt them quickly up. 

 Attention was gently drawn to them, but the order was re- 

 peated, " Go on raking," and on we went accordingly. But 

 after a [time we held a secret confabulation, and decided to 

 " slip " some here and there for experiment, and to hide our 

 deceit sprinkled a little soil over the manure as nicely as 

 possible. The spring continued hot, and those with the 

 manure left on were by far the best. The others threw-up too 

 short bloom-stalks and gave too many black-eyed blossoms to 

 form a fine crop. I have since seen rather unsatisfactory 

 results from the same practice. It may be all right in rainy 

 districts, or, as in the case of Mr. Peach, where others can be 

 made so by attention given in watering, <fec, at the right time; 

 but in dry localities with a lot of all sorts of work to look for- 

 ward to, I think the safer plan is to leave some of the manure 

 on. Of course, it must not remain packed round the crowns. 

 I generally, in the spring, go down the rows and with the hand 

 thoroughly expose the stools, and by this, and leaving between 

 the rows the little manure that remains, obtain better crops 

 than by taking it all away. 



It is well to look at all sides of a question, to adduce what 

 can be said against as well as for it, and with this little ex- 

 planation on one point, I know Mr. Peach's plan to be good. 

 But yet, even in light soils and with stout early runners put in 

 during July, I often get nice crops the first year, and by plant- 

 ing three plants triangularly about every 2 feet, there is, the 

 first season, every appearance of a two-year-old established 

 plantation. I have now a bed of six rows of President, one 

 half being one-year-old, and the other half two-year-old plants, 

 and it would require a very expert grower to tell which are 

 which. But a specially wet season has made the young plants 

 grow very freely, and I will not say that in the end, taking one 

 season with another, that Mr. Peach's system is not the better. 



In good, sound, real Strawberry soil it is easy to have fine 

 crops the first year. I think such are annually produced in 



the capital garden of " C. C. E.," who plants at 1 foot apart, 

 and after the first crop removes every alternate plant. This 

 is a good, quick, and profitable mode of culture. I have had 

 good crops on this light soil on the easy plan once described 

 in the Journal by the Eev. W. P. Eadelyffe. It is without either- 

 digging or manuring (except on the surface) , and by liquid ma- 

 nure. After taking a crop of Cauliflowers, and when the ground 

 was quite hard, I scooped out some hollows a foot in diameter, 

 and poured into each a three-gallon can of drainings from the 

 cowyard. The next morning I levelled and planted on each 

 soaked place three plants. They grew well and produced a 

 fine crop the first year, one a little finer the second, and the 

 plants look in excellent condition for another year's bearing. 

 We cannot, however, always secure a good supply of early 

 runners ; then there is Mr. Peach's system as a sheet anchor 

 to fall back upon. 



Every fresh letter proves how capricious the Strawberry is. 

 With me President for general usefulness heads the list. With 

 Mr. Peach it is not worth special mention. With Mr. Peach 

 Eivers's Eliza has honourable mention ; with me it is of no 

 use, I have tried it well and have now dug it up in order to bury 

 it to make other sorts grow. I hope I may find it of some use 

 below the ground ; it was certainly none above it. We want 

 the Strawberry season prolonged. I have Black Prince and 

 Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury for early use, and wish to hear 

 thoroughly reliable and practical information of Dr. Eoden's 

 Prolific. I want some proofs that a sort is really good before 

 I try it, the supply of a large family from a limited space pre- 

 venting much experiment. I have not Eleanor, but for late 

 kinds have, I hope, Elton and Frogmore, and by the kindness 

 of a friend, late Prince of Wales. If I find them good I will, 

 for the benefit of others, let the results be known. 



For prolonging the season raisers must look for lateness. 

 We cannot well have much earlier sorts on account of late 

 frosts. In a distinct late kind high-class flavour will be 

 willingly overlooked. The great bulk of Strawberry-eaters are 

 not connoisseurs. The point to be aimed at is to place present- 

 able dishes on the table now. They would be warmly welcomed, 

 and a thousand gardeners would rejoice to grow them. He 

 who ean send out a kind later than any we now possess, dis- 

 tinctly and constantly later, so long as it is a free bearer and 

 fair-looking fruit, even if it is not of the highest possible 

 quality, will deserve honour and reward, and will obtain both. 

 — J. W., Lincoln. 



P.S. — If the Eev. C. P. Peach would undertake the same 

 duty in regard to Strawberries that he so well carried out with 

 Eoses, I think he could not fail to do good service — viz., lists 

 from growers of the best, early, medium, and late sorts, with 

 the nature of the soil and other conditions in which each was 



NOTES ON EOSES. 



It is with some diffidence that I venture to add my mite to 

 the contributions which have appeared in the Journal on Rose- 

 culture, nor can I claim to approach some of your correspon- 

 dents either in experience or skill, and yet the struggles of a 

 beginner towards light and knowledge may possibly be of 

 service to others. I never go into a garden without learning 

 something — that is, either something to imitate or something 

 to avoid : so, one can scarcely read an article on Eoses without 

 picking up some crumbs, even though they be as scarce as the 

 rays of sunshine during a part of this autumn. 



What a marvellous and eccentric season this has been ! My 

 poor Climbing Devoniensis, my pride and glory last year, 

 covering an expanse of south wall with a profusion of beauti- 

 ful blossoms, was scorched by the frosts just when about to 

 bloom, and for a long time looked a perfect wreck; Margarita, 

 another free grower, suffered a similar fate, together with many 

 others ; but Glory of Waltharn, on the same wall, which I had 

 previously despised and thought of uprooting, bloomed in- 

 cessantly from the end of April, and was the pride of the 

 place, with its fresh bright colour and handsome look when 

 not much opened. Marechal Niel did not suffer so much, but 

 the leaves, with me, seem susceptible of cold, although the 

 branches do not die off. Cloth of Gold put in last autumn — a 

 tall strong plant several feet high — has not bloomed, but a 

 friend tells me that I must not expect any blossom for three 

 years. Is it true that this golden beauty is so chary of her 

 charms ? Climbing Victor Verdier has bloomed most beauti- 

 fully, and I do not grudge Messrs. Paul & Son the 5s. which 

 they asked for their new plant, but there is no " climb " at 



