Jane 24, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
503 
runners in beds and making the plantation in the autumn or early 
spring if it cannot be otherwise done, but by this means a season is 
lost. The ground should be well worked two spits deep, and have 
the bottom loosened. A dressing of manure may be given, one at 
the bottom of the trench and another between the top and second layer 
of soil. If the subsoil is not of a very good description and of a hungry 
nature, do not bring it to the surface, but work it over in the bottom, 
adding anything that may improve it, and keep the surface soil at 
the top. In heavy clayey soils we should keep the well-worked 
surface soil at the top, and improve the bottom with turf parings, 
decayed and burned vegetable refuse. Ground that has been well 
worked early in the season and has had a light crop growing on if, 
would not require to be trenched again, but be simply dug aud 
levelled. In either case the ground must be worked sufficiently 
early that it may settle, and if it is not firm at the time of planting 
it should be trodden when the surface is dry. 
Layer the runners as early as possible into 60-sized pots filled 
with four parts turfy loam to one of well pulverised manure pressed 
in firmly, or on pieces of turf. But this should not be used unless it 
is free from coarse weeds, and has been stacked some time so as to 
kill all vegetation. By the time the runners are established the bed 
must be ready for their reception. I do not agree with close plant¬ 
ing, as if the plants grow as they should do they would be over¬ 
crowded. All the varieties I have named, except Loxford Hall Seed¬ 
ling, which is a compact grower and may be planted 18 inches apart, 
should be in rows 2 feet apart, and the same distance asunder in the 
rows, and between every fifth and sixth row the width may be 
3 feet, which will allow room for attending to the plants without 
trampling amongst them. If the soil is not of a very good description, 
give each plant a shovelful of fresh soil, like that used for the layers, 
and press it around the ball firmly. A depression may be formed 
around each plant as a receptacle for water, which would be necessary 
if the season should prove dry. In summer supply water liberally if 
necessary, as the plants must be kept growing, and all runners should 
be picked off as soon as perceived. Employ the Dutch hoe, both to 
destroy weeds and to keep the surface open. By the end of the 
season the plants ought to be of good size with well formed crowns ; 
and if the winter is likely to be severe, a top dressing of short, dry, 
and open manure should be applied. As the plants advance into 
bloom, and if the weather prove dry, they must receive a thorough 
watering with either rain, pond, or even sewage or weak liquid 
manure, and a good soaking of sewage after the fruit has set will be 
advisable. Just before the flowering period, and after a heavy rain 
or watering, mulch the bed with long stable litter if it can be pro 
cured, which will have become bleached by the time the fruit is ripe. 
In wet seasons, or even in dry weather if there is time, it is an excel¬ 
lent plan to prop up the fruit from the ground with Birch or Hazel 
branches. The second season’s treatment will consist of removiug the 
runners after the fruit is gathered, and clearing away the loose litter, 
and in the autumn a dressing of decayed manure on light soils, and 
a top-dressing oh heavy soils, of bonemeal and wood ashes is bene¬ 
ficial. Weeds and ruuners should be removed, and in the spring 
treat as advised for the younger plants.—A. Young. 
The Strawberry is one of the most popular fruits. It is 
the first ripe, is adapted for cultivation in most soils and situa¬ 
tions, and its culture of the simplest description. Anyone, in fact, 
with a plot of ground may grow Strawberries, always subject to 
certain conditions which I will endeavour to describe as they 
have been observed in varied soils and situations through a period 
of nearly half a century. 
SITUATION. 
The Strawberry in this and other countries where found wild 
is an inhabitant of open woods or copses, and slopes of hills or 
mountains where it has the shelter of bushes, rocks, or boulders, 
protection from summer heat and drought by the shade of vege¬ 
tation, which also affords protection in winter. The plants are 
never found in hollows where water lodges and stagnates; but on 
knolls, slopes, or ground through which water passes freely; the 
ground enriched by fallen decaying vegetation. In cultivation 
we have, however, to deal with a somewhat different plant. The 
Strawberry in gardens is an improved, larger, and more useful 
fruit. Cultivation and selection of the finest varieties has effected 
much, but this is had at the expense of hardiness, a consequence 
of cultivation. The Alpine Strawberry is not a whit more hardy 
under high cultivation than the choicest variety. Plants are 
hardy in proportion to their vigour. We must give cultivated 
plants more room than wild, they must have full exposure to 
light for the elaboration and assimilation of the increased food 
supplies. 
The situation must be open, so that every ray of light will 
have effect from sunrise to sunset. Shelter is good to break the 
violence of winds and prevent injury to the foliage, but anything 
that detracts from the plants’ otherwise full exposure is inimical; 
shade, except for special purpose being injurious. Hedges are 
the best shelters, and the alleys or pathways should be alongside 
the hedges. The best hedge for sheltering a Strawberry plot is 
an espalier of 4 feet 6 inches height, formed of galvanised wire. 
No. 13 I.W.G., iron standards pierced for seven lines of wire, 
with pillar and stay at each end for straining, all galvanised and 
utilised with Apple and Pear trees on dwarfing stocks. Such 
take up no more room than a screen of Thorn, Beech, Hornbeam, 
or Privet, are no more trouble in trimming, and give a profitable 
return. Screens of this character running north and south 
22 yards apart are useful shelters. Walls are the worst possible, 
as they shade and scorch, and the plants are not so well off as in 
the open, through the heat and drought incidental to such posi¬ 
tions. Hedges appropriate the moisture and nutriment the 
ground affords for some distance from them, so as to render it 
of no value for Strawberries. To obtain early fruits plants are 
sometimes placed in warm borders, due regard being paid to the 
supply of water in dry hot weather if the plants are to be healthy 
and afford profitable crops. Ground sloping sharply to the south 
is selected for early crops, whilst that which slopes north should 
be chosen to afford late crops. 
SOIL. 
A strong loam is no doubt the best for Strawberries, and 
especially when of a limestone or oolitic nature. This more par¬ 
ticularly applies to the Pine varieties. Any good friable loam 
liberally manured affords excellent crops of Strawberries. Light 
and shallow soils are the worst. They are too loose or too hot 
and dry to render the fruit equal to what it is obtained from soil 
of a tenacious and moisture-holding character. Very heavy soil 
is not good, but it may be rendered suitable by burning a part of 
the underlying strata or clay, and mixing it with the top amelio¬ 
rated soil, and a portion of the stubborn pan. It may also be 
improved by dressings of ashes, and by throwing it up roughly 
to the ameliorating influences of the atmosphere. Dressings of 
lime are beneficial. Six tons per acre or a bushel per rod is a 
suitable dressing. Leaf soil, charred refuse, and any loose material, 
as old mortar rubbish, brick rubbish, &c., are excellent. They 
assist the percolation of water through the soil, carrying air 
down with it, the first consideration in making the soil’s consti¬ 
tuents available as food for plants. In dealing with heavy soils, 
it is well to loosen the stubborn pan and leave it at the bottom of 
the trench than to bring a quantity to the surface- Endeavour 
to retain all the better soil however thin, and add to it by bringing 
up a little of the poor material at a time, increasing the depth 
by loosening the stubborn material. 
Light soils are improved for any crop by a dressing of clay. 
A sandy soil on which Strawberries were a precarious crop, was 
made into a good one by a coating of marly clay at the rate of 
100 cartloads per acre. This was applied in winter, thrown 
about, and dug in early in spring. Shallow soils may be stirred 
as deeply as we like, but there must not be any attempt at bring¬ 
ing any of the brash to the surface. Olay dressings should 
alway be given on the surface, for clay, like lime, sinks deeper. 
Lime, or preferab'y chalk, through holding moisture is an advan¬ 
tageous dressing for light soils, and may be applied at the rate 
of°20 tons per acre. Gravelly soils require clay. Heavy loams, 
ditch semirings, and pond cleanings are admirable dressings for 
light soil —anything, in fact, that increases the depth and is of a 
moisture-holding character is suitable Lose no opportunity of 
bringing in fresh loam, particularly of a heavy nature, for light 
soils ; and road scrapings will improve heavy soils through fur¬ 
nishing the grit they are usually deficient in, and give increased 
friability. 
PREPARING THE SOIL. 
The soil, whatever it may be, should be stirred as deeply as 
the good soil allows. Trench just as deeply as there is soil, and 
loosen the undersoil as much as possible, the deeper the better, 
but bring none or very little of it to the surface. If manure is 
required, do not waste it by placing it at the bottom of the trenches. 
Keep it within a foot from the surface. Ground that has long 
been under crops and has a rich surface will be the better for 
trenching, turning the top soil to the bottom and bringing good 
soil to the surface. This will only need a liberal dressing of 
manure and exposure to the atmosphere. Peaty soils should 
have a dressing of lime, and preferably of a magnesian character. 
Six tons per acre is a suitable quantity. Alluvial soils are the 
better fora dressing of non magnesian lime. Soils that have 
been long under crop and have become full of manure may have 
a dressing of lime at the rate of 3 tons per acre Lime should 
always be used on the surface and only pointed in. 
Soil in good heart will not require any manure, it having been 
manured for the previous crop, but if the crop was an exhausting 
