30 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 11, 1889. 
consisting of yellow Aquilegias, Coreopsis coronata, yellow Sweet Sultans, 
and a few Cattleyas at the base. Mr. Chadwick, Ealing, was second 
with light stands. Mr. Chard was also first with three bouquets ; Mr. 
W. Gardiner, 127, Queen’s Road, was second, and Mr. J. A. Morris, 
Acton, third. Mr. W. E. Tautz, Sutton Lodge, Chiswick, was first with 
six elegant buttonholes, and Mr. J. C. Cowley second. 
Mr. H. Little, Twickenham, was accorded first honours for Orchids 
in both classes for six and three. Mr. Cowley following in each case. 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, had a handsome collection of Shirley 
Poppies, Irises, Phloxes, and other hardy flowers. Gloxinias were good 
from Messrs. A. Wright and Davis, who secured the chief prizes. 
Tuberous Begonias from Messrs. Little, Wright, and Hardy were 
another feature of the Show. Mr. W. Rumsey had the only collection 
of twenty-four Roses, taking the first prize for fresh and handsome 
blooms. Mr. W. Langdon was first for twelve Roses, followed by Mrs. 
Rust of Kew and Mr. C. J. Waite. 
The fruit and vegetable exhibits occupied considerable space in the 
■conservatory, several classes of specimen plants also having a place 
there. For six dishes of fruit Mr. Bates was first with white and black 
Grapes, Stirling Castle Peaches, Lord Napier Nectarines, Sutton’s Hero 
■of Lockinge Melon, and a neat Queen Pine. Mr. T. Osman, Ottershaw 
Park Gardens, was second, and Mr. Waite third with Grapes. The chief 
honours for vegetables were secured by Messrs. Waite, Coombs, Palmer, 
and Chadwick. 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 
A shoet time ago we received a pleasant letter, from which the 
following is an extract :—“ Have you any contributor who can send you 
a draft copy of a contribution sent to the Cottage Gardener so long ago 
as 1851 ? I have had the curiosity to con over it, and if you examine 
it I am not certain it may not be considered worth printing again for 
the perusal of the present generation.” The writer of the letter and 
•of the yellow-with-age MSS. is Mr. Robert Fenn of Potato fame, and 
we shall be very much surprised indeed if any other person can send us 
the original copy of an article that was published in the Cottage 
Gardener nearly thirty-eight years ago, and if he can, and it is as good 
■and pleasantly written as the one following, we will print it again. 
The “ present generation ” of young gardeners will perhaps note that 
Mr. Fenn when he was young “ wrote over again,” and no doubt im¬ 
proving as he went along, what he intended for the press, retaining the 
■draft, and that practice no doubt enabled him, as we know it has 
•enabled others, to write freely and agreeably. That he succeeded in his 
early effort is apparent by the editorial note that was appended when 
•the article first appeared under the once familiar nom de plume of 
“ Upwards and Onwards.” Mr. Fenn characteristically observes he 
•“ struck seventy-one last February, and is still pegging away at horti¬ 
culture and agriculture.” Many older than he, we are glad to know, are 
still engaged in .gardening, and we trust he has yet some years of plea¬ 
surable work before him. 
If anything new or useful can be derived from my practice in 
•■Strawberry culture, as I here detail it, the presumption of my mite as a 
■contribution to your ever-welcometo-me, and generally, I should con¬ 
ceive, useful periodical, will, I hope, be atoned for, notwithstanding the 
great deal of matter already known which it may contain. The site I 
choose for my Strawberry ground is that on which either my early Peas, 
Potatoes, or Cauliflowers are grown. These come off in July, and allow 
me two months to well trench, manure, and pulverise the soil. I in¬ 
variably in trenching (2 feet deep for Strawberries) keep the bottom 
spit down, and if I can get it I use a barrowload of manure to each 
square yard of ground, mixing it equally through the whole body of the 
soil. I allow the soil to lay as rough as possible after the first trenching 
sfor a month. I then trench it again, but this time add no manure, 
leaving the surface as I proceed quite rough, in order that the sun and 
air may act upon it as much as possible. It will settle down nicely by 
■the middle of September, at which time on the first favourable rain, but 
mot till then, I place out the young plants for good. 
I keep a few plants of each kind of Strawberry I cultivate in a dis¬ 
tinct part of the garden. These I term my breeders, from which every 
runner that appears is carefully pegged down the moment it shows a 
leaf, and so on till such time as the required quantity is provided. 
Those which appear after this on the mother plants I cut off without 
mercy, and they accompany the refuse to the dung-pit, as well as every 
fresh runner that attempts to show itself from those previously pegged 
down. I have now (July 12th) an abundance of healthy runners root¬ 
ing. They will be ready to prick out in about ten days, and I intend 
ithem to occupy a site now taken up with a row of Bishop’s dwarf Peas, 
which will be off the ground by that time. 
As soon as these Peas have done bearing the ground will be well 
forked, a tolerable sprinkling of rotted manure added, and the young 
plants pricked out thereon t) inches apart. I take them up carefully 
from the ground on which they are pegged down with a garden trowel, 
allowing as much soil as will cling to them to do so, though in this 
■operation I like to cut off the points of the young roots in moderation, 
as this induces them to send out fresh roots nearer home. After they 
are pricked out (in which operation I am careful not to bury the 
•crowns), I keep them well watered until they have taken good root. I do 
not let them produce a single runner, and of course all weeds are 
eradicated from them as they appear. I keep the ground repeatedly 
scarified. This brings us, we will say, to the middle of September, 
when, on the first wet day, even if a thorough drenching should be the 
result, I plant out the Strawberries. 
The varieties of Strawberry I cultivate are Keens’ Seedling, the 
British Queen, and Elton. I allow them to bear two years, and then 
invariably dig them down, at least this was my practice when I lived 
in the vicinity of Ludlow. I was not acquainted with the British 
Queen until I came here (Woodstock), and I find after three years’ 
familiarity with this sort and on this soil (a gravelly loam), I must pro¬ 
pagate new plants yearly, as I find the two-year plants are apt to die 
away just before they arrive at their blooming state ; and so far as my 
knowledge of them goes I cannot prevent them doing so, nor can I find 
out any assignable cause for their decay. The yearling plants with which I 
filled up the rows last year are healthy. Therefore it cannot be sup¬ 
posed that the severity of winter has in this particular case anything to 
do with it. With the latter and former kinds I shall pursue my old two- 
year system of cultivation. My distances of planting out are—for 
Keens’ Seedling, 1 foot G inches between the rows, and the same distance 
between the plants ; British Queen and Elton, 2 feet between rows, and 
1 foot 6 inches between the plants. I allow an alley extra of one foot 
between every two rows of plants. 
At planting-out time I take up the young plants from the ground on 
which they are pricked out, with tolerable balls of soil adhering to the 
roots. In this point I am very particular, and of a necessity the roots in 
taking up the plants become circumscribed a little by the action of the 
trowel or small spade (the latter instrument I generally use at this stage 
of the process) ; this mild mutilation still causes an increase of roots 
nearer the plants, and more useful members of them. 
I prick out my runners as near the planting ground as possib’e, in 
order that I may step a few paces, and deliver the plant directly off the 
small spade into the hole prepared for it. I need not explain the why 
and wherefore of this proceeding. I am particular in not burying the 
crowns of the plants and in not mutilating a single leaf if 1 can possibly 
help it. Attend to watering the plants a short time if necessary, 
eradicate all weeds, and keep the ground, but mind only the surface, 
stirred about them. Do not take a leaf off them until next March, 
and not then even unless the leaf is withered. 
The beginning of next March. Many a cold dreary day will have 
to be borne before that day arrives, many a store of knowledge laid 
up in those long winter evenings, aud many a bushel of soot saved 
from the winter sweeping of our chimneys for our Strawberry grounds 
in the beginning of March. Soot mixed with an old Cucumber 
bed is a top-dressing I always prepare for my Strawberries. I mix 
it at the rate of a peck of soot to every wheelbarrow load of the 
said Cucumber bed, and the manner I apply it is as follows:—I 
shovel or cause to be shovelled off about 1J inch of surface 
soil flanking the first row of plants. This is wheeled and laid in a 
parallel line with the last row. Then comes the mixture of soot and 
manure, which is spread 2 inches thick on the surface from whence 
the soil was removed. Now step between the next two rows of 
plants, shovel the soil off over in a similar manner, spreading it evenly 
over the 2 inches of manure, which it will slightly cover and pre¬ 
vent the escape of the nutritious gases of the manure, prevent its be¬ 
coming dried by the sun and winds, and withal make a tidy appear¬ 
ance. Follow up this proceeding until the whole is finished, and the 
first soil that was removed will cover the last layer of manure. The 
rains will wash down the nurture of the manure just as the plants 
are coming into full life and activity, ready to take advantage of 
these good things. 
So far so good till the blooming period, at which time, if it should 
prove dry, I give the plants a thorough soaking with soapsuds and 
water, about half and half and warm, once a week. Our laundress 
for years has been in the habit of throwing her soapsuds away. I 
begged of her to allow it to be brought to me once a week, which, 
she kindly acceded to. As Beau Brummel formerly said of starch, 
so I sing in praise of soapsuds. “ It is the man,” or, as we must 
say, “ It is the Strawberry.” It has an astonishing effect on fruit 
and vegetables if given just as they are coming into production, and 
against blight I think my trees can testify it is equally good. My 
odd man, when I first began to send him for it, I fancy thought me 
a little crazy, but now he tells me that the suds which his old woman 
makes he applies to his own garden. As the Strawberries come into 
bloom they will struggle to reproduce their kind in the shape of 
runners. These I treat as utter abominations. I go over, or cause to 
be gone over, weekly every plant with a pair of sheep shears, and 
clip off every runner in its infancy. 
Now in what manner can we protect the fruit from becoming spoilt 
in its ripening process? It is a fact, I have tried tiles, straw, slates, 
short-mown grass, and have left the fruit to take its chance, and I like 
neither way. The tiles harbour the slugs beneath them, preclude the 
air and light from the soil, and all become damp and stagnant about 
them. Slates are no better, but in addition soon become burning hot, 
or are in the extreme of cold. Straw encourages the mice, which not 
only nibble the Wheat which remains in it, but nibble off numbers of 
the berries also. Short grass in a wet time becomes mouldy, and 
sticks to the berries as badly as dirt, and leaving the fruit to be dashed 
and splashed on the ground by every pelting storm, I find the most 
disconsolate proceeding of all. Some good people go to the enormous 
expense of building a garden wall, plant choice trees, and then in the 
nick of time, and just as they would if they could come into bearing, 
they allow the poor things to take their chance, and get no return for 
their money or even the satisfaction of their garden looking decent. 
