242 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



temperature recede to 55°; and to prevent damp coun- 

 teracting the process of fertilisation, leave a little air 

 constantly on the house, and go over all the blooms 

 that are ready and fertilise them with a camel-hair 

 brush at mid-day. Those which throw their blooms up 

 boldly above the foliage wiU be found to set freely; 

 while those that do not, will not be so certain. The 

 conditions most conducive to a successful set early in 

 the season are, — as much light as possible, a regular 

 supply of fresh air, a night temperature not rising above 

 60° nor receding below 55°, a moderately dry atmos- 

 phere, and just sufficient water at the roots to keep the 

 plants in healthy action. Anything like stagnation of 

 water about the roots of strawberries when in bloom is 

 most injurious, and consequently the pots should never 

 be placed in saucers till after they are set, and then it 

 is a questionable practice. 



When the fruit are set and about the size of peas, 

 the chief difficulty is past. They may then have the 

 temperature ranging from 60° to 65°, with 10° or 15° 

 more with sun-heat. Water will be required more 

 liberally and frequently at the roots. Unless for the 

 later crops, when water is consumed with great rapidity, 

 never stand the pots in saucers full of water. The best 

 way in all respects is either to cut pieces of turf and lay 

 below them on the shelves — into them the plants root 

 and derive nourishment — or saucers with holes in them 

 to let the water escape, and filled with half loam and half 

 old mushroom-bed manure, can be placed under them 

 with equally nourishing results. The finest fruit I have 

 ever grown in pots had 6-inch pots half filled with 

 rich fresh soil placed under them, and into these they 

 sent their feeders en masse. And the pots being so fai' 



