September 9, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
235 
MAKING NEW STRAWBERRY PLANTATIONS. 
The Strawberry is one of the most commonly cultivated fruits. 
The Gooseberry may be more generally grown, but it is not more 
popular, as when the Strawberry is bearing ripe fruit all other 
fruit is neglected for it, and the desire of all who possess a garden 
is to have a Strawberry bed and gather quantities of this exquisite 
fruit. It is the most easily cultivated of all fruits, as ordinary 
•culture will produce fruit, and it is only mismanagement which 
causes the plants to be sterile. I have known some fail 
to flower, and I have known many others which flowered, 
but failed to perfect their fruits, and in both cases the 
fault rested with the cultivators. But the after cultivation of 
Strawberries is not so important as the attention required in 
making a new plantation, and when this is properly done there is 
no danger of subsequent failure for many years at least. Shady 
positions should never be selected for a Strawberry bed, as there 
the plants will, as a rule, make a superabundance of foliage, but 
little or no fruit. Some may be inclined to think that by planting 
them in the shade they will be able to have a good supply of late 
fruit, but this is a mistake, as it is by planting late varieties that 
this is secured. 
It is no use attempting to grow Strawberries successfully 
under the “ odd corner ” system. They certainly will cover any 
“ odd corner ” with foliage, but they require a good position to 
obtain abundance of high-class fruit from them, and the first 
and foremost thing to do in either introducing them for the first 
time, or making a new plantation anywhere, is to select a spot 
well exposed to the sun and where the soil is of a substantial 
nature. Strawberries can be grown in light soil, but they do best 
in heavy material, and a stiff soil will always produce more 
robust plants and finish finer crops of fruit than light soil. I 
have known Strawberries planted in very light soil bear excellent 
crops for a year or two if the weather happened to be moist at 
the time the fruit was swelling, but when the season chanced to 
be dry at that time they were almost a total failure. It is when 
the fruit is swelling and ripening that the quality of the soil is 
tested. Many are heard to complain that their Strawberry 
plants were full of bloom, the fruits formed freely, but most of 
them were lost before ripening; and that is the evil of planting 
in light soil, as it is very rarely the crop fails in heavy material, 
and the fruit as a rule swells to the last berry. 
In many cases the surface soil of a garden is very fine and 
light, whilst the subsoil is heavy, and if trenching was done there 
before the Strawberries were planted it would benefit them highly. 
The subsoil should then be brought well up to the surface, and 
the whole of the quarter for the Strawberries should be trenched 
before any manuring is done. It is generally understood that 
Strawberries delight in a rich soil, but there is a danger of giving 
them too much manure, especially at first. I have known beds 
to be originally composed of almost half manure and the plants 
made astonishing growth in it, but this was all, as leaves took 
the place of fruit in a great measure, and these strong plants 
were by no means so fertile as those of medium strength. A 
very moderate supply of manure will grow Strawberries well for 
the first season, and afterwards they can be easily and advan¬ 
tageously fertilised by mulching in early spring, which is the 
best of all times for this operation. In dea'ing with Strawberries 
from this point of view, the newly trenched ground and soil 
being dug for the reception of young plants should only have a 
medium coat of manure worked into the surface, but what is 
used should be as good as possible. It must be remembered that 
a new Strawberry plantation ought to remain in prime bearing 
condition for four, five, or six years, and if a quantity of weedy 
manure is introduced to the soil at the first it will give endless 
trouble or may lead to the plantation having to be dug up pre¬ 
maturely. There is never any satisfaction to be had from a 
plantation which is constantly full of weeds, and when these are 
introduced with the manure it is a difficult matter to keep them 
down or clear them out. The b st aud shortest way of preparing 
the ground for Strawberries is to clear everything from the 
surface, dig or trench it if necessary from 11 foot to 2 feet deep, 
then fork a quantity of good clean manure into the surface and 
plant. If the soil is inclined to be light, use cow manure; if 
rather heavy, introduce stab'e manure As a rule it is not an 
advantage to plant Strawberries where Strawberries were before. 
Like many other things, a change of soil is very beneficial to 
•them, and they may follow Potatoes, Onions, or any kind of 
vegetable crop which is being cleared off about this time. 
As to the best time for planting, I do not think there is a 
better than the end of August or very early in September. The 
young plants have then time to form roots and become well 
established before November, and once this is accomplished they 
will bear a light crop the first summer after planting. It is 
always a very great advantage to have strong runners to place out, 
and if these were cut off and lifted some time ago and planted 
closely in a nursery bed to form roots they may now be trans¬ 
planted without receiving a check. Secure a ball of soil with 
each if possible, aud plant without breaking this. Newly dug or 
forked ground is always loose, and as the young roots establish 
themselves much more quickly in firm soil than loose material, 
when the whole have been planted the ground around each plant 
should be firmly trodden down. We find that those of the Black 
Prince type do very well with a distance of 2 feet between the 
rows and 18 inches between the plants, but the more robust- 
growing ones should have at least G inches more room each way. 
—J. Muir, Margarn Parle, South Wales. 
SMALL ROSE GROWERS-HER MAJESTY. 
I HAVE received a note from the gentleman who signs himself “ W. R. 
Raillem,” without date or address, postmark a town in Suffolk. He 
rallies me on my “ poverty ironically assumes me to be a “ millionaire ” 
parson ! forgetting that pluralities are abolished. I own with shame my 
extravagance and reckless expenditure. Vaulting ambition over-leapt 
itself. Of course I hoped to win the prize for the best H P. at Kensington 
and perhaps elsewhere. Well, Her Majesty suggests one thought more. 
Loyal imperialist that I am, I was speaking very disrespectfully of Her 
Majesty to a friendly nurseryman, who tried to soothe me, saying, 
“ Depend upon it, sir, next year Her Majesty will take the prize every¬ 
where for the best H.P. in the show.” But suppose some dispute Her 
Majesty being an H.P. ? To avoid wrangles, let committees in preparing 
schedules avoid the letters H. and P., and assign the prize for the “ best 
Rose in the show, not being a Tea Rose or Noisette.” After a fair trial 
given, one year more will be time enough to take in hand the question 
whether Her Majesty is to be catalogued as an H.P. or not, and settled as 
tie Hybrid Tea Rose question was.—F. H. G. 
A DRIVE IN SURREY-KINGSWOOD WARREN. 
Calling on Mr. Rapley at Bedford Hill House, Balham, a short 
time ago, he was found making preparations for a drive to Kingswocd 
Warren, the seat of H. Cosmo Bonsor, Esq., M.P. ; and as Mr. Rapley 
appeared more than willing to “ make room for another,” and as the 
other evinced no reluctance to occupy it, the pair started on a ten-miles 
drive to the destination indicated. There was little or no time for seeing 
the gardens at Bedford Hill House ; but a glance was had at the Tuberous 
Begonias that have been in splendid condition ; and the Carnations in pots 
for autumn and winter flowering compelled a pause on account of their 
sturdy vigour, thick broad glaucous fuliage, and the stout uprising flower 
stems of the more precocious varieties. The cuttings were inserted in 
February, and the plants, stood in a sunny position in the open air, are 
now well established in 6-inch p ts, and in condition to produce fine 
blooms in abundance, and to maintain a supply throughout the winter 
and spring months. “ They like a little peat in the loam,” remarked the 
cultivator, and it is certain they enj lyed what they had ; “ but afhr all,” 
he further remarked, “ there is more in good watering than anything else, 
and a blunder in that re-pect soon throws them wrong, and they are not 
easily got right again.” These observations are jotted down in the hope 
that they may be of service to somebody who fails in growing these 
coveted flowers to his satisfaction. Carnations are favourite flowers at 
Bedford Hdl, one of the young gentlemen of the family, Mr. George 
Brand, being a great admirer of them, especially the border varieties, of 
which he has a very extensive collection, procured from Chelsea and other 
places. He has also raised some seedlings of promise, and will not unlikely 
enter further into the interesting pur?uit of intercrossing. The display 
has been very fine, and has confirmed what has so often been said in 
these columns, that free-growing Carnations rank amongst the very best 
plants for suburban gardens and more or less smoky districts. Bedford 
Hill is famed for Calceolarias, the Rapley strain being quite in the front 
rank; but the plants for next year are in their infancy, cleaD, crisp, and 
fresh, in a cold frame in the coolest and dampest position that can be 
found, those being the conditions in which they are the most happy in 
the summer. The flower garden was remarkably gay, and it is not easy 
to imagine more brilliant beds than of the old Waltham Seedling semi- 
Nosegay Pelargonium, and which, moreover, continues flowering as long, 
if not longer, than any ether variety in cultivation. The conservatory 
was fragrant with Bouvardia jasminitiora, which, when well grown, is one 
of the most delightful of plants at this period of the year. Some plants 
stood outdoors were growing like Willows, and producing fine trusses of 
flowers equal in texture and purity to the Stephanotis, and more delicately 
sweet. The plants are easily grown, and it may be said of them as of 
the Carnations—“ they like a little peat in the loam, but there is more in 
good watering than in anything else.” Thunbergia Harrisi and Alla- 
mandas intermingled on the roof of a stove had a beautiful effect, and 
the former is, perhaps, not so much gro*n as its merits deserve. This is 
not much like a “drive,” however, but we shall start directly, and have 
been having a rush round till our steed, to use a flower-showy phrase, was 
“ placed in position.” Just be r ore being “staged,” which a horsey man 
would call “ on the box,” we peep into a pit at some Tomatoes. “ What 
is that big one ? ” was the hurried inquiry, for gardeners are naturally 
inquisitive, and received for reply, “ Oh ! that is Ne Plus Ultra, sent out 
by Williams ; fine, isn’t it?” It was very fine indeed, and its quality 
was equal to its appearance, for it must be confessed that a “ hands off ” 
