HYBRID STRAWBERRIES 



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HYBRID STRAWBERRIES 



French^ Fraisiers hy brides. German^ Grossfnichtige Erdbeeren. Spanish, Fresones. 



The varieties which are comprised under the name of Hybrid 

 or Large-fruited Strawberries are far from presenting an identity 

 of character, so that we shall not endeavour to give any general 

 description of plants which exhibit so many points of difference 

 from one another. To give some idea of the diversity which exists 

 amongst them, we may observe that the colour of the fruit varies 

 from white to blackish red, while the weight ranges from less than 

 a quarter to over three ounces. The flavour also of the fruit, the 

 size of the seed and the depth to which it is sunk in the surface of 

 the Strawberry, the size of the flowers, the time of ripening, and 

 the number of runners produced exhibit equally strongly marked 

 differences. 



Culture. — The Hybrid Strawberries like well-drained, deep, 

 substantial soil, but they readily accommodate themselves to soils 

 of various kinds, provided they are not brought into contact with 

 stagnant moisture, which injures them more than anything else. 

 Any kind of garden soil, by being moderately well dug and properly 

 manured, can be brought to produce good Strawberries, unless the 

 climate is excessively dry. The seed of Hybrid Strawberries is 

 rarely sown except for the purpose of raising new varieties, and 

 they are almost always propagated from runners — a method so 

 prompt and easy that a better could hardly be desired. The 

 runners are long, slender, bare, and cord-like branches, the swollen 

 extremity of which bears a cluster of leaves, and from its under- 

 surface speedily sends out roots and attaches itself to the soil at 

 a short distance from the parent plant. The runners of the Hybrid 

 Strawberries do not end with the rooting of the first cluster of 

 leaves, but produce four or five joints in succession, each bearing 

 at its extremity a cluster of leaves which grows and roots itself like 

 the first, under favourable conditions. The runners begin to 

 appear when the plant comes into flower, and continue to increase 

 in length all through the summer, during which time the plant will 

 also produce fresh ones, should the first have been cut off. About 

 August, the earliest plants of the runners will be well rooted and 

 strong enough to be planted out, either as edgings or in beds, each 

 containing three or four rows of plants, which should be about 

 20 in. apart in every direction. Before planting, the ground should 

 have been well dug, well manured, and covered with a good litter 

 of manure or dead leaves. The young plants wull begin to bear in 

 the following spring, and the fruit will be more abundant and finer 

 if all runners are carefully removed. As soon as the first fruit are 

 formed, it is advisable to place a layer of long straw, or else slates 

 or tiles, on the ground under the young fruit, to keep them from 



