256 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
size, without in the least breaking the ball. They should not 
suffer the least check in this operation, and the object of 
letting them get a little dry is to promote the turning out 
in complete balls without injury to the roots. In this potting 
a rich firm soil should be used, say turfy loam two parts, the 
top crumbs from a bank of clay one part, and fat hotbed 
manure one part, the pots to be carefully drained, but with a 
view nevertheless to cramming into them as much fat soil 
as possible, for the strawberry is like an alderman and must 
have good food and plenty ; it cannot live on chips or pots- 
herds. In the potting process the stuff should be hammered 
as if for the foundation of a house, and as there is (or was) 
a famous house known as “ Strawberry Hill,” you may when 
potting strawberries for forcing consider yourself a master- 
builder in the employ of one Horace of the blue Delft and 
Chinese pagoda persuasion, and not without the ambition 
requisite to the production of a second Horatius Flaccus. 
The stock should now be ranged on a bed of coal ashes in 
an open spot, and have the most regular attention, with a 
view more especially to regular watering. Keep the plants 
growing, and as their roots reach the sides of the pots the 
crowns will swell and ripen perfectly. To winter the stock 
brick pits are to be preferred, and they should be put away 
about the middle of October. As a rule we get a touch of 
frost some time between the 5th and 15th of October, and 
this touch of frost they should have and no more, unless it 
happens that they must be stored in the open, in which case 
they must take whatever weather comes. 
The way to store them out of doors is to put them up in 
stacks under a wall or fence facing north, for the coldest 
and dryest place is the best for them. Lay the pots in a 
double row, layer upon layer, and sprinkle between as the 
packing proceeds any dry stuff that is at hand, such as tan, 
coal ashes, or leaves, to prevent the razor-like rush of air 
through the pile that will surely take the life out of the roots. 
They must not have any water while laid up in dock in this 
way. 
The result of successful forcing lies in the first instance on 
the gradual introduction of the plant to a growing tempera- 
ture. If you make a rush at it you get nothing. You may 
rush but your plant will not ; it has a way of its own. Re- 
move from the stack to the frame, from the frame to the cool 
