178 
ON- THE CULTIYATION OF THE STRAWBEREY IN POTS. 
to reach the ground on both sides, and should be fastened along the centre of the arches, 
to which point, when not required for use, it can be rolled up on either side. The edges of 
the tarpauling should be nailed to light rollers, which will facilitate the operation of covering 
or uncovering, and preserve the material in good order for a longer period. In gardens where 
a respectable, neatly finished appearance is considered indispensable, these beds may be made 
ornamental, at a trifling cost. The outside may be bounded by a neat stone curbing, and 
the frame-work for supporting the covering may be of iron rods, leaded into it. This, if 
properly tarred, will be a permanent job, and divested of that unsightliness which renders 
it necessary to conceal these, and many other gardening conveniences, in the background. 
It will not be out of place to mention that shelters of this kind are useful at all seasons of 
the year. After the earliest Strawberries are removed to the forcing pits, constructions 
of this kind are a sufficient protection for many common plants that have been forced, 
and for a variety of all but hardy plants, that during the winter have occupied the cold 
frames, which are soon called into requisition when spring propagating commences. They 
are equally useful for hardening or protecting young plants intended for bedding out, and 
during the summer every gardener knows the value of such places, in which to set choice 
greenhouse plants, as he can expose them to, or protect them from, either sun or rain. 
Another very common plan, but inferior to the above, is to stack the pots in the shape of a 
wall sloping on both sides ; the pots being placed on their sides, with the leaves of course 
pointing outwards. The base of the stack generally measures about 3 or 4 feet through ; 
the lower tier of pots are supported by a course of bricks, to make the work steady, and 
to keep the leaves out of the dirt ; and the space within the line of pots is filled up 
with coal-ashes. Successive tiers of pots are then added, and the interior filled up with 
coal-ashes as the work proceeds. The breadth of the stack is gradually diminished upwards, 
till the bottoms of the pots on the opposite sides meet together. The top is then covered 
with as much ashes as will conveniently lie on it, and the whole is covered with a broad 
board. It is a common practice to protect these ridges, in severe weather, with dry fern ; 
but this is objectionable on account of its untidiness, and the difficulty of removing it to 
admit light and air, as it is an advantage too great to be overlooked to be able to expose the 
plants to fine weather, if only for a few hours during the middle of the day, and, to ensure 
regular attention to this matter, the covering should be so arranged as to be easily applied 
or removed. 
The general method of forcing Strawberries is to plunge them in a pit, in slight 
bottom-heat, and to bring them gradually forward in such a place till the fruit is set, 
after which they are generally removed to shelves in the vineries or pine stoves to swell 
and ripen them. The worst evil to be contended with in these situations is the heat of 
the sun against the sides of the pots, which dries the soil so quickly that the waterer finds 
it necessary to water beforehand, to prevent the plants suffering between-times. In 
consequence of this the soil becomes saturated and unwholesome, the roots are injured, 
and the plants become unhealthy, and have less power to resist the attacks of red spider 
and other insects, which always find an easy prey in plants which are disordered by any 
species of mismanagement. Anxious as we are to secure to the fruit and foliage the full 
advantage of sunlight, we feel satisfied that exposing the sides of the pots to the hot rays 
of the sun is the source of more failures in plant or fruit growing than many are aware of. 
To obviate this difficulty in the instance of Strawberries on vinery shelves, upright boards 
a few inches deeper than the pots should be fixed along the front edge of the shelves, by 
which simple means the pots will be shaded from the midday sun, while the latter will 
still have access to the surface of the soil ; and as the back of the shelf is left unclosed, a 
free circulation of air round the pots will still be secured. Their general liability to be 
attacked by insects, and the consequent danger of communicating the pest to the vines, 
form a sufficient reason for keeping Strawberries out of the vineries, if possible, altogether ; 
and as the successful early forcing of this beautiful fruit is so important a matter in nearly 
all gardens, it is worth while to devote pits to their especial cultivation, constructed in 
such a manner as is best calculated to effectually answer the desired end. The kind of 
pit which I would recommend for this purpose would be about 9 feet wide inside, span- 
