THE STRAWBERRY. 231 



less by all who possess a glass house or pit, it being a 

 fruit that can be ripened in great perfection in almost 

 any glass structure, without any artificial heat, a little 

 before it is fit to gather in the garden quarters. 



THE BEST KUNNERS. 



To be successful in forcing the strawbeny early, it 

 is of very great importance to get young fresh plants 

 established and well matured in pots early in the 

 season. 



In the course of many years' successful practice, 1 

 have tried various ways of getting early healthy runners. 

 Besides other methods I have allowed the parent plants 

 to produce young runners when being forced in March, 

 April, and May. These have been rooted under glass in 

 small pots, hardened off, and grown on in the usual way. 

 Very small runners have been selected from outdoor 

 plantations in autumn, and pricked off in light rich soil, 

 and lifted and potted about midsummer. I have left 

 the runners on those which ripened their fruit in April 

 and May, planted out the parent plants, carefully pre- 

 serving these runners, and layering the young plants 

 produced in this way. The last named is the best of 

 these three methods, and plenty of first-rate plants for 

 forcing are so produced. But the best way that I have 

 ever adopted, either in England or Scotland, is to make 

 a plantation of the best runners that can be had in Sep- 

 tember from those plants that were forced the previous 

 spring. These young plants were plaiited expressly 

 for the purpose of producing fine strong early runners 

 for potting the following summer. 



This autumn plantation should be made in a warm 



