August I, 166a. 1 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
83 
ia order to harden the wood. Good plants may be had in this way 
in 6-inch pots fit for forcing the winter following, or in eighteen 
months after inserting the cuttings. Tea-scented Roses are of 
course here meant. The Hybrid Perpetuals, instead of being 
potted, can be planted out where they are to remain in the autumn 
twelve months after insertion. If the cuttings are left a year the 
lights are drawn down in spring so as to harden the plants well, 
and in late April or early May, or even earlier if the frames are 
wanted, the latter are removed altogether, the sides of the cutting 
bed being sloped off with fine ashes. 
By allowing the young plants to remain twelve months where 
inserted they get more stamina, form a stronger root stem, and 
fuller and more ligneous roots, with a stronger growth of head. 
These may be planted or potted and the roots shortened back, but 
not the head, letting them remain until late spring before pruning, 
when they may have pushed fresh growth from the upper part of 
the shoots, and may be headed down, leaving three or four eyes, 
from which speedily spring strong shoots, followed very often 
before the summer is over by very much stronger ones from eyes 
or buds below ground. When these come we may make sure of 
’bushes in the third year that will give trusses of bloom never seen 
on Roses or any kind of stock, the bushes as large as any lover of 
basketfuls of Roses for decorative purposes can desire. If pyra¬ 
mids are wanted let the root growths mount up to a height of 
10 feet or more, as they will in a season, and if ripened to the tips 
'•they will give a wealth of blooms the following season from base 
to summit, such as to astonish those who have hitherto only seen 
Roses on stocks.— Utilitakian. 
STRAWBERRIES AS ANNUALS. 
If my ideas on the subject of treating Strawberries as annuals 
tare not altogether novel they are perfectly original, and, as I hope 
fo prove, more practical than fanciful. Few experienced culti¬ 
vators now-a-days allow their Strawberry plants to remain on the 
ground after they have produced three crops of fruit, but the 
question I wish to ask is whether, in very many instances, it would 
not be wiser to clear them off one, if not two years earlier than 
they do. All will agree with me that strong one-year-old plants 
produce comparatively heavy and early crops of extra fine fruit, 
and as a rule the young plants are also the most continuous bearing. 
In the second year they not unfrequently yield heavier crops, and 
not much fault can be found with the size of the berries, but it is 
only under favourable circumstances that the three-year-old plan¬ 
tations give such good returns as first appearances would warrant 
the inexperienced in anticipating. In a dry season the old plants 
are the first to fail, while should we have a wet summer much 
fruit rots on the ground around those longest planted, owing to 
these having by far too much foliage. The fact of its not paying 
to keep Strawberries more than two or three seasons on the ground 
does not prove that they would be most profitable treated as 
•annuals, but it is leading up to it. 
In the case of plants grown on deeply trenched highly cultivated 
ground it is only in exceptional cases that it is necessary to depend 
exclusively upon one-year-old plants, and it may seem incredible to 
some that such exceptions are to be found. When first taking 
charge of a girden in Middlesex I was told by an enthusiast in 
Strawberry culture that it was useless to leave the plants on the 
ground to produce a second crop, but of this I was not fully con¬ 
vinced till I had experimented with a portion of a large bed. In 
the end I was obliged to admit that only maiden plants would yield 
eatable fruit, and by good culture extra fine crops were invariably 
obtained from these. In this instance it paid well to treat Straw¬ 
berries as annuals, and in numerous other gardens it would also be 
found the most profitable plan to adopt a similar method of culture 
if those in charge could “ screw up courage ” enough to follow it. 
Doubtless where much labour and expense in manuring and trench¬ 
ing has been incurred on the preparation of the ground for 
Strawberries it would seem a most unprofitable proceeding to root 
them up after one good crop has been taken from them, and if 
there were no need for it I would not advise that it be done. 
Where, however, the second or third crops are disappointing, which 
they often are, what is the use of preserving the plants after 
the first season’s produce has ripened, and sufficient runners have 
been obtained ? An early cleared Strawberry bed is one of the 
best sites imaginable for Broccoli, the latter being planted without 
the ground being dug, and this crop alone would pay for any 
trouble previously taken in preparing the soil. I hold, however, 
that no more trouble need be taken in planting Strawberries than 
almost any other crop, and when the plants are put out, say in 
close succession to early Potatoes planted on ordinarily manured 
and roughly dug ground, there need be no compunction in cutting 
them up after they have had a short and merry life. 
While they last Strawberries are the most popular fruit in 
season, and the longer the supply lasts the better owners of gardens 
are pleased. It behoves gardeners therefore to vary the sites of 
the beds as much as possible, some plants being grown on sunny 
borders, the principal portion in a somewhat cooler but not low 
position, or where fros's are apt to spoil the earliest and best 
blooms, and the remainder in a cool late quarter. As far as the 
main portion or principal plantation is concerned it may not in all 
cases be wise to treat these as annuals, or even to destroy them after 
the second crop has been taken ; but I maintain that nothing but 
young plants should be tolerated on a warm border, and that only 
young plants can be depended upon to fruit well in a cool or very 
late position. All gardeners will agree with me that the sunny 
wall borders are, as a rule, much too limited in extent, and the 
more closely they are cropped the greater the certainty that the 
kitchen will be well supplied with superior vegetables. A portion 
of a south border might yet well be devoted to Strawberries, even 
if only one or two hundred plants are there located, and these will 
be the means of furnishing several extra early dishes of fruit, and 
also abundance of good early runners ; indeed, it is advisable to 
treat a few plants as annuals, if only for the purpose of obtaining 
a good supply of strong runners, as it is very certain those pro¬ 
duced by worn-out older plants are far too weakly to be profitable. 
Nothing can be more simple than this border culture of Straw¬ 
berries, the one principal condition being that the plants be pet 
out early, or, say, not later than the first week in August. Our 
plan is to liberally manure and dig the ground during the winte-, 
and plant it with Ashleaf Potatoes in March or early in April. 
A good crop of these is invariably obtained, and it is cleared c ff 
long before the Strawberries are ready to be put out in successicn. 
According as the Potatoes are lifted the ground is cleared of 
rubbish, forked over, or rather levelled, and all lumps of soil broken 
down, and this being done the planting can be done at any time, 
no matter how dry the surface may be. A distance of 18 inches 
apart each way is sufficient for the strongest growers, the 
best of these being Sir J. Paxton, but 15 inches is ample fer 
the rest, including the early and very heavy cropping Noble. In 
our case only these two varieties will be planted on a warm border 
this summer, and both are profitable. It is not very material 
whether the runners for planting are first rooted into small pots 
or into a ridge of soil and moved with a mass adhering to the roots, 
but it is of the greatest importance that they be in a moist state 
when planted, and kept 30 afterwards, care also being taken to 
well firm the soil round them, as it is not a mass of foliage, but a 
comparatively heavy and early crop of fruit that is needed. I 
consider it unwise to mulch the beds till the spring, as a heavy 
surface dressing of manure keeps the border too cool. If the 
ground is rather poor an early spring dressing of soot and guano, 
or some kind of special manure, ought to be given and lightly 
stirred in, the mulching being applied after the rain has well 
washed this in. We commenced gathering this season from plants 
on an early border about June 7th, and at the present time 
(July 19th) we have several hundred strong runners rooting into 
large and small pots. When these are well established the ground 
will be cleared of Strawberries, and early Broccoli at once planted. 
The latter will give us some serviceable heads, and coming off the 
ground early it may be got into condition for Potatoes again or 
any other early crop we may choose to put on it. Those who can¬ 
not see their way to devote any portion of an early border to 
Strawberries may yet try another method of securing an early crop 
without much trouble, and for which I take some credit for 
originating. Having found that Tomatoes succeed admirably on a 
shallow raised border, temporarily formed against the sunny walls 
of forcing houses, it occurred to me that Strawberries would 
succeed equally as well under somewhat similar treatment. In this 
case Strawberries must be grown as annuals, a change of soil as 
well as plants being absolutely necessary, or failure will result. 
These raised beds may of any width, or, say, from 2 feet to 4 feet 
wide, according to the room available, and may be formed on a 
hard bottom, or this may be loosened prior to disposing about 
6 inches of fairly rich loamy soil over it. In this moderately 
strong runners, which may usually be found fit for lifting among 
the old rows of the best early and second early varieties, may 
be firmly planted 12 inches each way, or they may be arranged 
rather more closely in squares to admit of handlights being placed 
over them as they are coming into flower. In dry weather they 
will require any time after they are in flower to be watered fre¬ 
quently, and in any case a mulching of rather short manure will 
benefit them. The fruit ought to be propped up well clear of the 
ground and foliage with birch spray, and those who take this small 
amount of trouble will be rewarded by a capital lot of extra early 
Strawberries. We tried several varieties last season in these 
positions, and the second earlies were available in advance of 
Yicomtesse Hericart de Thury in the open. All the plants grown 
