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ANNUAL ROOT-CUTTING. 



become dry, whilst the former will scarcely receive benefit. If 

 strawberries are planted on good loamy soils, well trenched, with 

 little or no manure, they will be found very different in charac- 

 ter to those on light and highly-manured soils ; the whole plant 

 will be more compact, the leaves smaller in circumference, yet 

 thicker, and the plant will moreover endure periods of drought 

 much better. 



Having now pointed out the evil effects of grossness, as tend- 

 ing to barrenness and loss of flavour, I come to the point from 

 which I set out, viz., to recommend what I have practised for 

 years under such circumstances, and I think I may say always 

 succeeded with, or at least it has always produced the result I 

 anticipated. Let it not, however, be supposed for a moment that 

 I advocate so foolish and prodigal a system as first to over-excite 

 fruit-bearing trees by manures, and then to cut away their roots : 

 by no means ; I merely suggest a mode of treatment for pam- 

 pered subjects which it is not deemed expedient to destroy off 

 hand. 



The root-cutting I recommend for the currant is practised at 

 the extremities of the fibres, and is a matter of great simplicity. 

 A line is stretched parallel with the row, at about thirty inches 

 from the stems (if strong bushes), and the line " chopped out." 

 The line being removed, a trench is opened at one end, and a 

 deep spit dug out, nearly to the bottom of the roots, and placed 

 aside, similar to the manner of making a celery trench. All 

 roots on the farther side of the line, from the tree, are cut entirely 

 away, and the trench merely filled again with the ordinary soil of 

 the garden, which lies close at hand, and for which the excavated 

 soil is substituted. This operation should be performed as soon 

 as the leaves are fallen, in order that the bush may commence a 

 series of fresh roots, to meet the demands of the coming spring. 

 Now although I advocate cutting the extremities, I never dig 

 over the surface-roots of my bushes; these remain untouched, 

 and even receive a slight top-dressing, when necessary, of half- 

 decayed tree leaves, more in order to coax the roots to the sur- 

 face than for the sake of manuring. 



In cutting the strawberries, my practice is to trim away all 

 superfluous runners in the end of August ; by which means the 

 principal leaves of the mother plant dislodge themselves and 

 separate, and thereby expose a much greater amount of surface to 

 the light to ripen the bud for the ensuing crop. About the 

 middle of October, a slight dressing of half rotten manure, chiefly 

 leaf soil, is scattered over the surface of the ground ; and the 

 centre, between each two rows, merely one spit in width, is deeply 

 dug ; cutting of course all roots that lie within such boundary. 

 I have always found this course to produce precisely the effects 



