ROUEN. 



615 



serymen/^ of course. Alpine Strawberries are grown here 

 in considerable quantity, and preferred to tbe common kind. 

 By covering the ground with a little short manure to pre- 

 •vent evaporation, and giving abundance of water in dry 

 weather, they get them to fruit from early summer to late 

 autumn, gathering plenty of fruit all through this prolonged 

 season. When gathered fresh from the plants, and used 

 with the usual accompaniments, the best varieties of the 

 Quatre Saisons are certainly excellent. They are insuffi- 

 ciently known in England, where they ought to be very 

 extensively grown, as the climate is even more suitable to 

 them than that of France, and they would form a very 

 agreeable addition to the dessert at all times, especially 

 when the other strawberries are past. 



In the market here specimens of the Eeinette Grise, an 

 excellent apple, were selling in June at three and four sous 

 each ; they were perfectly firm, and the flavour of the best. 

 Considering how valuable is an apple that keeps in the con- 

 dition described to the month of June, we need scarcely say 

 that this deserves to be widely known in England. It 

 is well suited for culture on the cordon system. A 

 peculiarity in the mode of growing young Camellias and 

 Azaleas deserves notice. The spring after being grafted 

 they are planted out in pits or frames in light peaty earth, 

 and the result is that they form presentable specimens in 

 half the time that is usually required when they are grown 

 in pots. But they are all destined for pots, and this course 

 is pursued simply to get them ready in quick time. They 

 grow so fast that after six months they must be taken up 

 and replanted at greater distances apart. This phase of the 

 cultm^e chiefly concerns the propagator and nurseryman; 

 but when large plants become shabby from having been in 

 dwelling rooms or any other cause, they are cut down and 

 planted out in the pits in the same way, the result being 

 that they soon return to a perfectly healthy and vigorous 

 state, and may, after a year or so, be again placed in pots 

 or tubs. This hint should be useful to amateurs whose 

 specimens are so frequently in that state when it becomes 

 doubtful whether they should be thrown away or kept. 



