SMALL AND BUSH FRUITS. 



247 



intact. But in the Southern counties, where Straw- 

 berry plants ripen their crops and mature their 

 foliage early, great success has been reached by 

 cutting off the old leaves soon after the gathering of 

 the fruit. Large heads of fresh leaves are soon pro- 

 duced, with a corresponding crop of plump crowns, 

 that mature well before winter, and yield splendid 

 crops the following season. The practice, when 

 adopted, must be carried out with care, and only the 

 old leaves removed. Nothing could well be worse 

 form in Strawberry culture than the mowing of all 

 leaves off with scythes, as was frequently done in 

 olden times. This, and the digging between the 

 rows with spades, has now happily disappeared. 

 Where the plan of defoliation is practised it should 

 be followed by top -dressings and liberal waterings, 

 should the soil be at all dry, thin, or poor. 



Durability of Plantations. — Great diversity 

 of opinion prevails on this point, and the tendency of 

 modern cultivation is towards frequent renewal, say 

 every three years. On good soils, however, and under 

 liberal culture, the plantations may remain for four or 

 six years. Those who adopt the practice of planting 

 out their forced Strawberry plants seldom leave them 

 more than two years. These bear well the first 

 season, and enormously the second, and as abundance 

 of plants are mostly at hand, they are dug down 

 after their second crop in the open. Strawberries 

 are also more used in courses of rotation than 

 they used to be, and hence their more frequent 

 renewal. Besides, young plants produce the finer 

 fruit, though older plantations, under liberal treat- 

 ment, often yield a heavier gross crop for preserving. 



Special Culture of the Strawberry. — No 



fruit is more amenable to special culture than 

 the Strawberry. Its small size, early maturity, and 

 abundant fertility lend themselves readily to special 

 culture and forcing. The plants may be grown from 

 runners into fruitful plants within the limit of little 

 more than three or four months. And Strawberries 

 can be grown with more or less success anywhere or 

 everywhere. In window boxes, on balconies, roofs, or 

 areas, and in the smallest town, suburban, or rural 

 garden, the Strawberry may be made to bloom and 

 ripen its luscious fruits. Fortunately Strawberry 

 plants, with plump crowns almost bursting into 

 embryo fruitage, may be purchased at a cheap rate 

 from many growers for sale, and these can be ripened 

 under conditions that would hardly have brought 

 them into such a promising state. 



Strawberries on Banks. — Some of the finest, 

 as well as the earliest, Strawberries ever seen by 

 the writer were grown on a sloping bank with a 



southern aspect. On such banks, unless the soil is 

 abnormally rich and deep, the plants are apt to suffer 

 from excessive heat and drought. To prevent this, 

 and insure to the plants the full benefit of artificial 

 watering, ground stages are formed. These consist 

 of level spaces varying from eighteen inches to three 

 feet broad, separated from each other by a series of 

 steps, of a depth of a foot or more. These spaces are 

 virtually the shelves of an earth stage, the steps being 

 the risers between the same. To insure the full use 

 of the water given, the shelves should incline in- 

 wards, not outwards. The narrow shelves are fur- 

 nished with one row of plants, the wider ones with 

 two or more. The chief drawback to these earth 

 stages is their tendency to crumble down and lose 

 their distinctive character. Where spoilt brick, stone, 

 or other hard refuse is plentiful, the use of these 

 checks the crumbling, and the rough rockery for 

 Strawberry culture may be so constructed as to stand 

 securely for years. 



Means of Prolonging the Season. — The 



simplest of these consists in planting early, late, and 

 mid- season Strawberries on south, north, and all other 

 possible aspects. For example, Black Prince on a 

 south border, to foster its precocity to the utmost ; 

 Keen's Seedling on a west aspect ; British Queen on 

 an eastern, and Elton or Late Pine on northern sites. 

 Another simple method of altering the Strawberry 

 season is to pick off all the early blossoms so soon as 

 the embyro spathes can be descried. This practice 

 is most successfully applied to forced plants. Their 

 abnormal vigour, especially under high culture, will 

 force a second crop of bloom late in the season. Pro- 

 bably the most certain mode of insuring a really good 

 crop in the late autumn is to plant out the earliest 

 forced plants, so soon as the fruit are gathered, in 

 rich soil, and liberally supply them with water, so 

 that they never once suffer nor flag. These, and 

 especially such popular sorts as Black Prince, Keen's 

 Seedling, Vicomte Hericart de Thury, and Presi- 

 dent, often yield a full crop through August, Sep- 

 tember, and October, the succession of ripe fruit 

 lasting much longer than in the normal season of 

 Strawberries. 



Forcing. — A great deal may be done to hasten the 

 ripening of Strawberries in the open air by placing 

 Rendle's protectors, ground Vineries, small frames, or 

 common handlights, over the plants on south borders, 

 or raised banks. A month may thus be gained in the 

 time of ripening. In the use of glass fostering ex- 

 pedients it must, however, be borne in mind that air 

 must be given during bright sunshine to prevent 

 any excess of heat or scalding. But such use of glass 

 brings us to the next and the most important and 



