SMALL AND BUSH FRUITS. 



245 



fully squash the fruit in water and remove the pulp 

 and all seeds that float on the surface. This is rather 

 a tedious process, and when completed remove the 

 water and spread the heavy seeds on sheets of paper 

 to dry in the sun, or at a gentle fire, and either sow 

 at once or the following spring. When the object 

 is to obtain improved and new sorts, two distinct 

 varieties should be crossed. 



The seeds may be sown in the open air in March 

 or April. The soil can hardly be too light, fine, and 

 rich ; and the warmer and sunnier the situation, the 

 sooner the plants appear. Sow in very flat drills 

 about six inches apart, or on prepared beds, and 

 cover with a mere sprinkling of very fine soil. The 

 seeds, which are very small, can hardly be sown too 

 thinly, and will be up in a month or six weeks. As 

 soon as they have made from three to five leaves, 

 plant them out singly from three to six inches apart. 

 The seed beds, as well as the young seedlings, must 

 be watered should the weather prove exceptionally 

 dry. Properly attended to, the seedlings will bear 

 the following season. 



But the seedlings will be much stronger before the 

 winter if sown in a gentle, heat in February, trans- 

 planted on to a slight hot-bed so soon as sufficiently 

 large, and planted out in their future quarters 

 towards the end of May, or early in June. Alpines 

 treated thus will fruit in the first autumn from 

 sowing, and other varieties yield a fair crop the 

 second season. No runners must be permitted to 

 grow on the seedlings, as these tend to enfeeble 

 and injure the crown. 



Propagation by Runners. — The name of 

 runners is most appropriate and truly descriptive. 

 As the fruit approaches maturity the main energy of 

 the Strawberry plant is directed to multiply itself. 

 For this purpose it puts forth a crop of runners from 

 the base. These consist of a flexible stem furnished 

 with a bud or embryo plant on its crown. After 

 diverging from the root-stock at right angles, to a 

 distance of from one to three inches, these buds or 

 plants strike root in the soil if that should be moist 

 and rich enough to tempt them into doing so. If 

 space and other conditions are suitable, the newly- 

 rooted runner repeats the process of sending out 

 another runner, and so on and on in succession , and 

 thus one Strawberry plant might cover a rod, a 

 rood, an acre. But the cultivator arrests the process 

 at the first runner, concentrating the vital force 

 capable of making many plants, into the maturing 

 of one. This is easily done by stopping the runner 

 beyond its first bud.- 



An early crop of runners is the key to success 

 in Strawberry-growing. Late and weakly runners 

 waste time, as well as diminish weight of produce. 



One of the surest means of having a full crop of 

 runners, is to make fresh plantations of these every 

 year so soon as they are rooted. Young plants pro- 

 duce runners earlier than older ones. This arises, 

 doubtless, from their youthful vigour, as well as their 

 scantier crops of fruit. Indeed, where large supplies 

 of early runners for forcing or other purposes are 

 desired, it is good practice to nip out the bloom 

 from a few rows of young plants, and thus force their 

 entire strength into runner-growing. 



Another capital mode of accelerating the growth 

 of runners, is to plant out the forced Strawberries so 

 soon as their crops under glass are gathered. These 

 will frequently produce a crop of fruit, and also of 

 runners, in the autumn. If one plant is left on each 

 runner, that will grow into great strength next sum- 

 mer, before the runners on the open-air crops have 

 made a start. Liberal top-dressings annually ; heavy 

 waterings of sewage or clear water in dry weather ; 

 special dressings so soon as the fruit is gathered, or, 

 better still, a month before ; placing a stone on 

 each runner, or pressing it closely down, and stopping 

 its further progress beyond the first bud ; layering 

 the runner in a pot filled with rich soil or manure — 

 are some of the most successful of the many expe- 

 dients adopted to facilitate the early production and 

 liberal culture of runners during the earlier stages. 



So soon as thoroughly rooted, the runners should 

 be detached from the parent plants, and either 

 planted out into nursery beds or permanent quarters, 

 or potted into their fruiting-pots at once. More 

 evil is wrought in the interregnum that mostly 

 occurs after detachment than can be made good by 

 any amount of after-care and culture. 



Planting. — Almost any good garden soil will 

 grow Strawberries. In very thin dry soils on gravel, 

 however, the plants suffer severely from continuous 

 drought in hot dry seasons. Soils on wet bottoms 

 are, on the other hand, fruitful of mildew. Loams 

 of most sorts, from light and sandy to what are 

 known as sound holding, are best for Strawberries. 

 Stiff soils, especially if at all wet, are unsuitable. 

 Holding loams give less leaf and produce heavier 

 crops than lighter and more mixed soils. Old black 

 garden soils, however, often produce much foliage, 

 and also enormous crops of fruit. Heavy soils can 

 be worked up into Strawberry ones by admixtures of 

 peat, light manures, sand, or burnt earth, while 

 any light soils can be greatly improved by dressings 

 of marl and stiff loam, approaching to clay. The 

 depth should not be less than from thirty inches to 

 three feet. 



Manuring and Mixing of the Soil.— The 



more manure the better the crop, is the short and ready/ 



