586 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Forcing. — The choice of suitable sorts, and 

 potting them as early in the season as young 

 plants can be got, forms the first feature in this 

 operation. The strawberry, being a native of 

 temperate and even cold climates, submits un- 

 willingly to a high temperature ; and when they 

 are suddenly subjected to such, the effects be- 

 come apparent by the slender appearance of the 

 leaves and foot-stalks, and absence of flowers; 

 or should the petals even develop themselves, 

 they are usually unaccompanied by healthy 

 stamens or pistils, and consequently produce no 

 fruit. The sorts we generally force are Cuth- 

 ill's Black Prince, Grove End scarlet, Keen's 

 seedling, and British queen. They are put into 

 a state of slow excitement about the beginning 

 of December, in the order in which we have 

 placed them above. As early in summer as the 

 young plants begin to show themselves upon 

 the runners, we plunge 3-inch pots in the soil 

 between the rows up to their brim ; the runners 

 are drawn over these pots so that the young 

 plant shall be placed in the centre of the pot, 

 and kept in their places by means of small 

 hooked pegs, and sometimes by placing a small 

 stone upon them. The pots are filled with 

 strong rich turfy loam, but not drained. They 

 soon begin to make roots, and in about ten or 

 fifteen days the pot will be full of them, at which 

 time the plants are cut from the runners, and 

 with ;the pots are removed to an open warm 

 space, where they are shifted into the fruiting- 

 sized pots, turning them out with their balls 

 entire. In the case of Cuthill's Black Prince, 

 which is a very small grower, the pots used are 

 44 inches in diameter; with the Grove End scar- 

 let 5-inch pots are used; and with Keen's seedling 

 and British queen, which are both strong growers, 

 64-inch pots are used. One plant only is placed 

 in each pot. The soil used is fresh turfy loam, 

 as strong as can be procured, but not entirely 

 clay. The pots are well drained, and the soil 

 rammed pretty tightly around the roots. We 

 use no manure in the soil unless it is poor, but 

 place in the bottom of each pot above the drain- 

 ings 2 inches of rotten cow-dung, and water fre- 

 quently with liquid manure. When the plants 

 are potted, which they will be progressively, as 

 young ones are procured, though no time should 

 be lost, as the earlier they are potted the better, 

 they are set upon a dry flooring of sifted coal- 

 ashes, well soaked with lime-water for the de- 

 struction of worms, in beds of a convenient 

 breadth, the pots standing quite close together, 

 and each size arranged by itself. They are watered 

 freely overhead with clear water applied through 

 the rose of a watering-pot, and kept in this posi- 

 tion till the frosts begin to set in, when they 

 are placed in cold pits and covered with glass. 

 As all have not the extent of pits that we have, 

 other expedients must be adopted, our object 

 being to preserve the pots from being broken by 

 the frost, as well as to keep the soil in them dry 

 and the roots safe from injury. Triangular 

 banks may be thrown up, and the pots plunged 

 lying on their sides, with their mouths outwards; 

 or the pots may be built up against a wall, facing 

 any aspect but the north, the uppermost course 

 being protected by boards laid along. The usual 



way, however, is to plunge the pots in a bed of 

 soil; but we have invariably found the plants to 

 root less freely in this way than in the others, 

 and as abundance of roots is an important con- 

 sideration, every means to encourage them should 

 be followed. If plunged at all, nothing is better 

 than sifted coal-ashes. 



In former times it was advised to pot the 

 runners in July or August, and to nurse them 

 in pots for two seasons, pinhcing off all blos- 

 soms as they appeared. Three plants were also 

 directed to be set in each pot. The former is 

 labour thrown away, and the latter erroneous in 

 principle. It is better to use smaller pots, and 

 to place one plant only in each ; for it frequently 

 happens, from one cause or another, that one 

 if not two plants out of the three may become 

 blind, — that is, they may not show bloom at 

 all, or perhaps only in a very weak or imperfect 

 state, leaving only one useful plant in each 

 large pot. Plants, also, of two years' standing 

 were not unfrequently used, taking them up in 

 October, and potting them with large balls into 

 9 or 1 0 inch pots. With Alpines a more rational 

 mode was followed ; namely, to sow the seed in 

 pots in January upon a gentle heat, hardening 

 them after they had attained the height of an inch 

 and a half by placing them in a cooler situation, 

 and then potting them in May into 6-inch pots. 

 In October they were in flower, when they were 

 placed under the shelter of a cold glazed pit, 

 and about the latter end of November placed in 

 a forcing- house or pinery. These and similar 

 plans have now given way to that of plants 

 rooted as we have described, grown freely dur- 

 ing the summer and autumn, and forced the 

 following winter. We also take the strongest 

 runners as early in the season as they are pretty 

 well rooted in the soil between the rows, and 

 plant them in small pots, placing them in close 

 pits or frames until the roots have filled the pots, 

 and then shifting them into pots of a size suitable 

 to the variety. Old plants may, however, be 

 taken up carefully with their roots entire, and 

 placed in a tanked pit pretty closely together, 

 working in soil between the balls. The opera- 

 tion should be performed early in October, and 

 a very slight degree of bottom heat applied till 

 the end of November, when they will be found 

 well rooted, and in a condition to commence 

 growth upon the application of an increased 

 degree of warmth from the tank. The object of 

 this is to give the roots the start of the leaves; 

 and to insure this while the roots are enjoying 

 a temperature of 55° to 60°, the tops should be 

 kept at 40° or 45°, and this can readily be done 

 by abundant ventilation, even to the extent of 

 keeping the lights off altogether during the mild 

 weather, and only putting them on when the 

 atmospheric temperature falls below these 

 points. Where the convenience of tanked pits, 

 or those having pipes in a vault below, is not at 

 hand, then the pots may with great propriety 

 be plunged in some material, such as tan, or 

 leaves undergoing a steady fermentation. In- 

 deed, a bed of any fermenting material, or of 

 leaves, constructed about the middle of October, 

 and the strawberry plants in pots plunged in it 

 without any covering whatever, would be found 



