THE STBAWBEEET. 167 



will keep the fruit from the dirt, and will, in many seasons, 

 double the value of the crop. 



Strawberry plants are very easily raised from seed. The fruit 

 should he gathered when it is fully ripe, and crushed with dry 

 sand enough to separate the seeds from each other, and then 

 sown, sand and all, on the surface pf a hed, prepared by thorough 

 pulverizing and abundant manuring with old compost. If kept 

 shaded from the direct rays of the sun, and kept moist by gentle 

 waterings, with a fine rose, every day, the seed will germinate 

 and the plants appear in about six weeks. After these have 

 made four or five leaves they may be pricked out into another 

 bed, where they will have room to grow. It is well to protect 

 them with a covering of a few leaves during the winter. The 

 first year of fruiting they are very likely to make great promises, 

 which they never afterwards keep, so that too much reliance must 

 not be placed on the appearance of the first fruiting. 



The Alpine varieties should always be propagated from seed, 

 for the reason that the berries are always much finer from young 

 seedlings than from old plants, or from the runners of those 

 Alpines that throw out runners. Some of the Alpines are what 

 are termed iush plants ; they never produce runners, and must 

 be multiplied either by division of the old plant or by seed. 

 Some of the Alpines are monthly fruiters, and, in cool, moist 

 seasons especially, if growing in a generous soU, they will bear 

 fruit continuously, from June to November. The Mexican ever- 

 bearing, which was introduced to public notice with a great 

 flourish of trumpets, as being something quite extraordinary, is 

 an instance of a monthly Alpine variety. 



Varieties of Strawberries. 



The name of these is legion, and it would be a very profit- 

 less waste of time to endeavour to describe a himdredth part. 

 Very few varieties succeed well over a large territory in aU soils 

 and climates; many are extremely fastidious, and never do well 

 beyond the spot that gave them birth. Therefore it is wise 



