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THE PRACTICAL GARDENER, 



[Mar 



The beds (1) were on flat ground, each about three feet wide ; 

 between them were trenches, (2) about nine inches wide, and 

 four-inch walls of brick-work on each side, to keep up the earth 



of the beds. These trenches were about the depth of two or 

 three courses of brick laid flat without mortar, and were in- 

 tended for the purpose of holding water, which was supplied 

 from a pump whenever the ground was dry, while the plants 

 were in fruit. 



In Devonshire, the same gentleman observes, that straw- 

 berry-beds are constructed against the side of a hill or bank, 

 by building up beds in steps, with rough granite at the front 

 to keep up the earth, each step being about two feet high, and 

 three feet wide. These steps are filled with good loam, and 

 the surfaces of the beds covered with rough pieces of granite 

 bedded into the loam, leaving openings between the stones, 

 just sufficient to put in the plants. The surface being thus 

 covered with stones, the ground is thereby kept moist, and 

 the fruit always clean. Beds on this plan might be readily 

 made in any situation, by using bricks or any kind of stone 

 for keeping up the mould, and covering the surface with tiles 

 or pebbles, or any sort of stone most convenient. This will 

 not only be a great saving of labor in watering, but, if neatly 

 done, will be a convenient mode of cultivating them, and the 

 fruit may be gathered without any chance of treading on it. 

 If a situation were provided, either with a natural spring or 

 stream of water upon the top of such a bank, it might, with 

 little trouble, be made to irrigate the beds, when in bloom, or 

 the fruit swelling ; and if let off' when nearly ripe, the reflec- 

 tion of the sun, if the bank sloped towards the south, would 

 be such as not only to give a high flavor to the fruit, but also 

 very much to accelerate its ripening. In such cases, where 

 water cannot be got naturally, a pump, such as is described 

 for the Chatham strawberry-beds, might be used. 



We have always considered a strawberry-garden to be a 

 desideratum ; and the advantages gained would repay both the 



