On the Cultivation of the Strawberry, §c. 343 



and in which the fruit scapes are not suffered to remain after 

 the first ripe berries have been gathered. My mode of plant- 

 ing Strawberries is this. The ground being well dug over, 

 trenches are made where the rows are to be planted, about 

 half a spade deep, and one in breadth. Rotten dung is then 

 put into the trenches, and dug into the bottom, mixing it 

 well with the earth. The trenches (two feet apart) are now 

 rilled up, and the runners planted over them in February, 

 taken fresh from the stocks, with the roots and leaves un- 

 touched. A very common and absurd practice is to cut away 

 the leaves, and to shorten the roots. I take sometimes 

 three crops, but in general only two, after which the ground 

 is dug, and trenches made as before. The year of planting 

 is not considered that in which a crop is to be obtained, though 

 when the runners are strong and fresh, they sometimes pro- 

 duce a tolerable supply. 



It has of late been recommended not to dig the earth be- 

 tween the rows ; and I conceived that hoeing was sufficient. 

 But there is an objection to this last, which has made me 

 again resort to digging, which is, that in gathering the runners, 

 weeds, and stones, the plants are too much denuded, whilst 

 it appears to me that it is of importance to keep the soil well 

 up to the plants. I do not remove the dead leaves, nor the 

 runners till spring. 



The recommendation to treat the Alpine Strawberry as an 

 annual, I have not attended to ; because by so treating it you 

 have your rows planted with good, bad, and indifferent fruit. 

 The Alpine sports into varieties, less marked indeed than 

 those of other kinds, but sufficiently distinguishable by size 

 and flavour. For some years past I have been in the habit 



