124 PIOTOBIAL PRAGTIGAL FliUIT GROWING. 



growing things badly is so overpowering that thousands succumb to it. 

 What difficulty is there, to begin with, in propagating Strawberries, .that 

 people will persist in sticking to those old beds, with their tangled 

 masses of runners and foliage 1 They know that the old beds mean a poor 

 supply of fruit ; they know that young beds mean good fruit ; and yet they 

 go on year after year without making an effort at improvement, 



I should like to say to all such people, Lock up the tenuis racket, or the 

 bicycle, or the cricket bat, that is the cause of the trouble in the Strawberry 

 bed, for just one day. Get a supply of small pots — 2- or 3-inoh will do 

 beautifully — fill them right up to the top with good loamy soil, ram it very 

 hard, and place the pots round the plant. Examine the latter for the 

 runners. You will probably find plenty of them from the end of June 

 onward, and here I may say that the earlier the runners are got the better, 

 so long as they are good ones. A good runner is one which has a little 

 tufty plantlet on it, with two or three small leaves — good, that is, if it is on 

 a plant that is fruiting itself, but not good if the plant be barren, for the 

 runner is likely to throw a sterile plant. If the grower has forcing in view 

 he ought to get the first plantlet, for let it he known that there may be 

 several on one runner. ' 



There are growers, and small blame to thera, who shirk the trouble of 

 repotting in the case of their forcing stock. Work is heavy and hands are 

 scarce, so they just layer the runners into 6-inch pots straight away. 

 Again, there are people who find squares of turf more convenient than pots, 

 and the plants do well in them. Layering may be done from July onwards, 

 but if it is left till late the runners take root on their own account. It 

 saves a great deal of trouble to take these, and consequently there are plenty 

 of people who do it, but the plants are invariably backward, and rarely fruit 

 the following season. 



There is room for latitude as to planting, and this again encourages 

 faulty practice. As a matter of fact, Strawberries may be planted almost 

 any month in the year, but all months are not equally good. August is a 

 splendid month if the plants are strong and the weather showery, because 

 they have a good chance of establishing themselves in September and 

 October. But the plants may be put in almost any time between August 

 and May. 



There is plenty of room for differences of opinion on the subject of 

 manures. Many good growers like to dung their ground heavily, and rely 

 on this one heavy dressing to carry the plants through their three years of 

 life. As they get satisfactory results from the system they are apt to think 

 that it is the only one. There is no " one and only " system with plants ; 

 Nature did not build them that way. Fine Strawberries can be grown with 

 the dung-cart, and fine ones can be grown without it. It may be of assist- 

 ance to those who cannot get abundant supplies of good manure if I give a 

 mixture that I have found admirable. It consists of 3 lb. of sulphate of 

 potash, 3 lb. of superphosphate, and 1 lb. of nitrate of soda per square rod. 

 The time to apply it is when the ground is trenched, which should be in 

 the previous autumn or winter, if possible. Half the quantity should be 

 worked into the subsoil, and the remainder mixed with the top spit. 



The distance apart at which to plant opens up fresh scope for mischief. 

 Why boggle over a point like this when the space between widely planted 

 Strawberries can always be made use of the first season for prize Onions ? 

 One of our best Onion and Strawberry growers always does this. Of course, 

 other people who found it good the first season would want to imitate it 



