JfOl.] THE /OliCING GARDEN* GOO 



By the end of this month the plants will be fairly established 

 in their nursing-pots, that is, if the seed were sown about the 

 first of the month. As soon as they have formed two rough 

 leaves, the bud that is to produce the shoots or runners will 

 appear between the two leaves ; this embryo shoot should be 

 taken out, either with the point of a knife, or carefully pinched 

 out with the finger and thumb, but so as not to injure the 

 leaves of the plants. This shortening, or stopping, as it is 

 called, will render the plants more stocky and strc^ng, and will 

 cause the emission of a number of other shoots, which will be 

 more prolific; and they in their turns, when stopped, will not 

 fail to show plenty of fruit; whereas if this first shoot were 

 allowed to proceed without stopping, they would probably run 

 two or three feet without showing fruit, and would be both 

 sterile and slender. Some gardeners, however, consider this 

 shortening or stopping the plants in this young state to be a 

 matter of little consequwice, and allow them to run to three 

 or four joints before they stop them. 



FORCING STRAWBERRIES. 



Strawberries are brought to early perfection in every de- 

 scription of forcing-house, pit, or frame, with more or less 

 success, which, in a great measure, depends upon the plants 

 being properly prepared before bringing into the house, of pro- 

 per sorts, upon the soil being suitable, and during their growth 

 being bountifully supplied both with air and water ; the latter 

 in perhaps more abundance than for almost any other plant 

 which we force. Many sorts of strawberries force well, but 

 the Alpines, Bath Scarlet, Grove End, Scarlet, Roseberry, and 

 Common Scarlets succeed best, and are most generally chosen 

 for that purpose. 



Young plants, that is, runners of the preceding year, are 

 almost universally preferred, and are potted in April, two or 

 three plants in a pot of eight inches diameter, and six inches 

 deep. These are plunged in the earth all summer, giving 

 them plenty of water and keeping them clear of weeds, where 

 ihey remain till taken into the forcing-house or pit. But the 

 runners of the same year, taken off in Julv, and i)lantcd in 



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