306 
THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GDIDE. 
cuttings of Araucarias, Euphorbias, Vahea guinmifera, and such 
plants, lie plunges them in a pot, in damp earth, not pressed down, 
with their lower end upwards, so that the latter only is exposed to 
the air, the whole head being buried. By this means he dries the 
wound, without allowing any of the water of such cuttings to 
escape. After leaving them for twenty-four or thirty-six hours, or 
even more, he wipes the end, so as to remove the gummy matter 
that has exuded, and then puts them in again in the usual way, 
when they take, and the more freely according as the wound is 
neatly made. 
CULTURE OF STRAWBERRIES. 
EW gardens, however small, are without a spot devoted 
to the growth of this favourite fruit, although very 
many persons fail of securing an adequate produce. 
This disappointment is attributed to many causes but 
the right one, which is, in general, an ignorance of the 
habits and wants of the plant. In most instances we find a bed 
appropriated to the straw berry, as ancient as that given to Aspa- 
ragus, the treatment of which has been annually the same for 
probably fifteen or twenty years. The following is the routine 
generally practised by those who prefer “ the wisdom of our 
ancestors ” to abundant crops of fruit : — The young plants are set 
pretty closely in the first instance ; the runners go where they 
please, and by the following autumn have formed a net-work all 
over the bed. The whole of the foliage is then moved or cut down, 
and a layer of dung thrown over the denuded plants prepares them 
for the coming spring. As there is no rule without exceptions, and 
nature will often be prolific, iu spite of untoward circumstances, it 
happens that the owners of such beds sometimes tell you they have 
abundance of fruit. The rule, however, is, that under such dis- 
cipline the strawberries grow “ small by degrees and beautifully 
less,” until the gardener is compelled to have recourse to remedy, 
and begin this ten or twenty tears’ course over again. Now the 
fact is that the strawberry, although capable of an indefinitely pro- 
longed existence, by the production of offsets from the old stools, 
will bear well for only a very limited period, and the renewal of the 
beds every third or fourth year is the practice of all experienced 
gardeners. It is strongly recommended to amateurs to make a new 
plantation every year, and to dig up the beds every fourth season. 
Thus, if at the present time your garden has been arranged on this 
four-year principle, the following will be the state of your straw- 
berry beds : — One is about to be dug up and planted with some- 
thing else, or, what is far better, bas'been dug up since July, and is 
now covered with some growing crop; the second is just planted ; 
the third is two years, and the fourth three years old. By this 
method a supply is secured without the loss of a year, as is the 
case when the whole stock is destroyed at once, and as by proper 
