THE STRAWBERRY. 24S 



STEAWBEEEIES IN A GBEEN HOUSE OB PIT. 



The amateur who pursues horticulture more as a pas- 

 time and a pleasure, and who may only possess a pit or 

 greenhouse from which frost is excluded, can, if he 

 fancies them, grow a few dozen strawberries on the 

 shelves near the glass, where he can get several dishes 

 before they can be gathered out of doors. The same can 

 be accomplished in a cold frame, where sun-heat can be 

 taken advantage of, by being shut up early in the after- 

 noons in April and May, and covered at night to prevent 

 the heat from declining so low as in uncovered frames. 

 A well-fruited pot of strawberries makes a most pleasing 

 dinner-table plant, with its green massive leaves and 

 tempting fruit. 



TYING UP THE PEUIT-STALKS, ETC. 



Some of those varieties, such as President and British 

 Queen, which throw up their fruit on long and more 

 slender footstalks, require to have their trusses support- 

 ed, otherwise, as the fruit become heavy, they weigh 

 down the stem, and it not unfrequently gets bent and 

 bruised on the edge of the pot, and the fruit is thereby 

 hindered from swelling so well. Where they are grown 

 in rows on shelves, a good way of supporting them is to 

 fix short stout stakes in every fourth or sixth pot, and 

 run a piece of thick soft twine along, on which the 

 trusses can rest ; or each truss can be tied to a slender 

 stake. 



Immediately the fruit are all gathered, the plants 

 should be removed to cold frames or to some sheltered 

 corner, where they can be protected from spring frosts. 



