1 86 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



blooms were out, and the full number (forty-four) were in flower by 6th March, 

 the remaining six being useless. Also on 23rd February, exactly four weeks 

 from the time of starting. Keen's Seedling opened its first flowers. Twenty-one 

 were expanded on 27th February, and by 6th March the full number of good 

 ones (thirty-three out of forty) were fully open. Royal Sovereign did not come 

 into bloom until 28th February, being the last one to do so. By 6th March, 

 however, thirty-six plants were in flower, and five more quickly followed, thus 

 leaving nine blind ones. 



The percentage of healthy flowering plants of each variety was as follows: — 

 President, 92 per cent. ; La Grosse Sucree, 88 per cent. ; Keen's Seedling, 

 82A per cent. ; Royal Sovereign, 82 per cent. ; British Queen, 78 per cent. 

 President, closely followed by La Grosse Sucree, thus had the highest average, 

 British Queen the lowest, Royal Sovereign and Keen's Seedling being almost 

 equally good. Notwithstanding the excellent start made by President and 

 Keen's Seedling, so far as the production of flowers is concerned, the ultimate 

 results, without doubt, marked. Royal Sovereign and La Grosse Sucr6e as the 

 most suitable and satisfactory. The former produces strong scapes bearing 

 numerous large flowers that have plenty of pollen, and set remarkably well. 

 In order to have plants of La Grosse Sucree at their best so early in the season, 

 they should have plenty of light, otherwise the flowers instead of developing 

 properly often remain among the leaves, a state of affairs detrimental to their 

 fertilisation. For a first early strawberry, to be started in November, Royal 

 Sovereign is the better of these two. Its flowers are borne upon longer and 

 more vigorous stalks than those of La Grosse Sucree, and are, therefore, not 

 affected to the same extent by the dull, sunless weather invariably experienced 

 at that season. A point in favour of La Grosse Sucree is that it does not 

 require nearly so much room for development as does Royal Sovereign. The 

 latter variety, as is well known, grows very freely and produces more foliage. 

 The fruits of these two strawberries are totally diff'erent in colour and appear- 

 ance, so that it is a matter of opinion as to which is the better. Well-developed 

 fruits of La Grosse Sucrde are rather smaller than those of Royal Sovereign, of 

 a deep, crimson colour, and very sweet. The fruits of the latter are bright red 

 with prominent seeds, lacking the fine flavour of the former, though more freely 

 produced, and of handsome appearance. Keen's Seedling also has an abundance 

 of dark-green foliage, and bears numerous flowers — -small and weak compared 

 to those of Royal Sovereign — that set fairly well. The ripe fruits are small, of 

 very pleasant flavour, and of quite dark colour. British Queen has proved the 

 least satisfactory ; the flowers were few, badly formed, and " set " but indiffer- 

 ently. Though one of the best flavoured strawberries in cultivation, if not the 

 best, its constitution is certainly such as to render it unfit for early forcing. 

 President produced numerous flowers, but they were weak, small, and far from 

 satisfactory. 



Doubtless if more favourable weather had been experienced during early 

 spring some of these varieties would have done better, but as the chief value of 

 a strawberry suitable for early forcing lies in its weather-defying capabilities, 

 the fact of the above-mentioned ones proving of little worth marks them as 



