THE STRAWBERRY. 



587 



of vast advantage, particularly for the earliest 

 crops. To take the plants at once from the 

 open air, or even from a cold pit, and place 

 them on shelves in a structure where the atmos- 

 pheric heat is 60° or 70°, is as unnatural as any- 

 thing that can be devised. When they have 

 been root-excited as above, they may then be 

 removed to the structure in which they are to 

 fruit, beginning with a temperature by day of 

 55°, and at night falling to 45°, by fire-heat, 

 admitting of a rise during sunshine of 10° or 

 15° for an hour or two only. In such a tem- 

 perature, and under the root-exciting principle, 

 the plants will push strongly, and throw up 

 strong flower-stalks, if kept sufficiently near the 

 glass. As one set of plants is removed to the 

 fruiting structure, another should take their 

 place on the bottom heat, to be preparing for 

 their final removal. 



Some have recommended retaining the plants 

 that were forced at the most advanced period of 

 the season, turning them out of the pots, and 

 planting them in the open air, and in autumn 

 following to take them up and re-pot them for 

 forcing during a second winter. We have tried 

 this method repeatedly, but with very indifferent 

 success. The usual time for bringing the straw- 

 berry into the forcing-house is from the begin- 

 ning of January to the end of February ; but 

 where ripe fruit is required early, the first set is 

 brought in about the end of November. 



Strawberries, forced so as to ripen in April, 

 and when the fruit has been gathered planted 

 out, not unfrequently produce a fair crop late in 

 the autumn ; and, should they not begin to show 

 their flower-buds till so late as to prevent a 

 chance of the fruit coming to perfection if care- 

 fully lifted and planted in large pots, and brought 

 progressively into a top temperature of from 

 45° to 55°, will often yield an excellent crop of 

 fruit through the early part of winter, and be- 

 fore those treated in the usual way could be got 

 sufficiently advanced. A bottom heat of 60° 

 should be maintained, and the glasses kept shut 

 close down until the roots have begun to grow, 

 when air should be more abundantly sup- 

 plied, particularly during their flowering period, 

 at which time the atmospheric temperature 

 should be gradually raised to 60° during the 

 day by fire-heat, falling during the night to 55°. 

 When the fruit is fairly set and swelling, a de- 

 gree or two more should be allowed, and 10° or 

 12° during sunshine for a few hours daily. As 

 soon as they begin to throw up their flower- 

 trusses, remove all the weakest, and also such 

 plants as show no flower-buds at all. If plants 

 be thus carefully taken up, and not subjected to 

 too high a temperature, or deprived of sufficient 

 air, they will produce excellent crops at much 

 less expenditure of labour in watering, &c, than 

 when grown on suspended shelves in the usual 

 manner. The elaborated sap contained in such 

 plants must be much greater than that found in 

 young plants of only a few months' growth, 

 which of itself must tend greatly to the develop- 

 ment of both flowers and fruit. Great care must, 

 however, be taken to preserve the roots as entire 

 as possible, for at the lifting season they are 

 charged with organisable matter for the nutri- 



tion of the plant when its growing season ar- 

 rives ; if, therefore, they are destroyed to any 

 extent, so much of this nutrition is withdrawn 

 from them. 



In placing strawberries in forcing-houses, they 

 should be set upon shelves suspended from the 

 roof, and as near the glass as possible, even 

 should their leaves almost touch it. The feeders 

 under the pots should be half filled once a-week 

 or so with weak liquid manure, and as soon as 

 the fruit is set, the trusses should be supported 

 erect by sticking small twigs in the soil for the 

 fruit to recline upon ; without this support the 

 weight of the fruit would cause the fruit-stalks 

 to bend downwards over the edges of the pots, 

 and hence greatly interrupt the free ascent of 

 the sap at a time when the plants require it in 

 greatest abundance. Strawberries on suspended 

 shelves require abundance of water, but this 

 must not be applied in excess. The smallest 

 and misformed fruit should be carefully cut 

 away with a pair of sharp-pointed scissors as 

 soon as they show themselves ; the nutriment 

 which would be wastefully taken up by them 

 will thus be directed to the larger and more 

 perfect specimens. 



Regarding the most appropriate structure for 

 forcing this fruit, pits have advantages over 

 larger houses, as the plants may be left undis- 

 turbed from the time they are finally potted 

 until the fruit is gathered, as bottom heat can 

 be applied to the roots, while ventilation, or a 

 removal of the sashes, will place the tops in the 

 condition stated above. Fig. 673, vol. i., offers 

 a good example of this sort of pit ; a reference 

 to it will show that it can be heated either by 

 hot-water pipes or dung linings. Fig. 649 ex- 

 hibits a tanked pit, with supplementary hot- 

 water pipes to afford atmospheric heat, after the 

 plants are fully established at the roots by the 

 heat from the tank alone. Fig. 638 shows 

 a strawberry-house or pit exceedingly well 

 adapted for fruiting them in, the plants being 

 set on suspended shelves close to the glass, 

 after they have been removed from the bottom 

 heat recommended; and an equally good example 

 is offered at figs. 629 and 632, where both 

 bottom and top heat is completely at the com- 

 mand of the cultivator. 



SELECT LIST. 



After the establishment of the London Horti- 

 cultural Society, the numbers of varieties sent 

 for examination, and many of these under a 

 dozen of names, induced the directors to draw 

 up a classification, which was at first done by 

 Mr Barnet, and afterwards improved and com- 

 pleted by Mr Thompson, his successor. That 

 arrangement divided them into seven classes, as 

 follows : — 



Class 1, Scarlet strawberries— Class 2, Black 

 strawberries — Class 3, Pine strawberries — Class 

 4, Chile strawberries— Class 5, Hautbois — Class 

 6, Green strawberries — Class 7, Alpine and 

 Wood strawberries. 



Of Class 1 the following may be considered 

 the best : — 



Grove End scarlet. — An abundant bearer; fine 



