STRAWBERRIES 31 
ance of fruit is not expected during the winter months. 
The chief points to be remembered are that strong heat 
will mean failure, but on the other hand, the fruits will 
be lacking in flavour unless placed in a temperature of 
about 60° or 65° to swell up and ripen. Liquid stimu- 
lants will need to be carefully supplied at this time of 
year, liquid cow manure and guano water proving suit- 
able if given somewhat weak. 
ALPINE STRAWBERRIES 
The wild Alpine strawberry is a native of many parts 
of the European Alps, and one of its chief characteristics 
is that it continues to flower from spring to autumn and 
on into winter if the weather permits. It is thus a 
perpetual fruiting strawberry, differing from our own 
native strawberry, which has but one season of flower- 
ing and fruiting. Duchesne shows that Alpine straw- 
berries were cultivated round London about the middle 
of the eighteenth century, having been introduced from 
Northern Italy; from England the culture spread to 
Holland. | 
To the cultivator who has to provide strawberries 
over as long a season as possible, the finer forms of this 
Alpine race are almost indispensable, and were indeed 
quite so until the introduction of the larger-fruited 
perpetual varieties. Alpine strawberries are easily and 
quickly cultivated, and the most common method is to 
sow seed obtained from a reliable source, in February 
or March, in a warm house or pit. Prick out the seed- 
lings into light rich soil as soon as they can be handled 
readily, and when re-established proceed to harden them 
off, finally placing them in cold frames until June, when 
they should be planted out in beds of rich but light soil. 
Such plants fruit freely during autumn, especially if the 
