84 



PROCKKOINOti UK THK 



April HI. 188{). 



OHDINAKV MKiniNG. 



TIk- fuIlDNviii::: Nvrri" decti'd Fellows of the Society ; 



riu' Dowapr Lady Coojxt, Islt'wortli. 



Uohcrt Harrison, Ksq., lienningholin Hon>c', Hull. 



'J'lu' follo'vin^ paper was rend, in explanation of the manner 

 ill wliieh the forced Sirawberries, for which a >il\er Hanksian 

 Mi'd.d was awarded, at the Meeting on tiie second inst., were 

 obtained; by Mr. Kobert Krrinp,ton, (Jardener to Sir 1'. de M. 

 (irey K^erton, liart., xM.P, at Oulton Park, in Cheshire. 



" The runners I use, are obtained from the forced jdants of the 

 previous seas(>n. For this purpose I reserve all the best pots 

 when they are taken out of the house after gathering the crop, 

 and b\ shelterini; them in frames for a few weeks, so as to pre- 

 >erve and ripen tiieir foliage, they produce both fruit and runners 

 in abundance in $ei)tembcr. 



" After a few weeks jirotection they are turned out of their pots 

 into rich soil in the course of the month of May, by which time 

 the iz:rowinjj: priiuij)le is stopped; and it may be observed, tliat 

 the circumstance of taking them out of their feeders, or pans 

 which had become full of their fibres, combined with the drop 

 of temperature they sustain in their removal from the houses to 

 the cold frame, is sufficient to put them instantly to rest, and 

 bring on an artificial winter ; as far as the maturation and rest 

 of the newly organised bud is concerned. The runners are taken 

 from the plants in the autumn, and planted in a reserve bed as 

 thick as they can stand together for the winter. I must here 

 digress to observe that the advantage which the runners of forced 

 plants possess over the common garden runners is twofold- In 

 the first place, the runners of the forced plants being produced 

 later are smaller, and much less disposed to blossom : con- 

 sequently have more of the growing principle in them, and are in 

 my opinion more analogous to a seedling ; and secondly, in 

 point of size, for the plant cannot be too small if it have a leaf 

 and a root. In the beginning of April I prepare ground for 

 their reception and cultivation. I choose my ground in the 

 lightest and most exposed situation which the kitchen garden 

 affords, in fact there must be no shade of any kind near them, 

 the ground must also be solid, that is to say ground which has 

 not been stirred for months ; my object being to produce early 

 growth, early rest, and a fibrous surfaCe-root. The ground is 

 dressed with the rottenest dung the place affords, well mixed 

 in with a fork about four inches deep (by no means more). 

 I place the runners in lines twenty inches apart, and allow 



