154 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 2?, 1 69. 
induced by a check in some way, and the subsequent effort of the plant 
to resume its ordinary style of growth results in strange formations. 
Mr. Jeans says, in this case, that probably “ it was caused by a check, 
due to the very dry weather we experienced at the end of June and in 
the beginning of July, and all through which it bad no water. The 
Rose was cut from a very weakly shoot which was nearly completely 
covered by foliage, so that it did not get much light. Owing to this, I 
had no opportunity of seeing it expand, as it was not noticed till the 
day before I sent it you. The tree is a half-standard, about 10 feet away 
from the vicarage south front, where it has the full glare of the sun all 
day. It is very free flowering as a rule, but this year is an exception, 
it having only five flowers altogether. The soil is rather clayey and 
very poor, as it has not had any manure for three successive seasons.” 
ALPINE STRAWBERRIES. 
The Strawberry season may be said to be over when the Alpines 
are coming in plentifully, and on that account alone they have a claim 
to our attention. And they have other claims. First, the flavour is 
peculiar—a sort of acidity that is not distasteful but refreshing. 
Secondly, the birds do not attack them so much as other fruits. Thirdly, 
they can be depended on for autumn fruiting. I have had plants that 
began bearing in July producing fine fruit up to Christmas in a mild 
autumn and winter. Fourthly, a dish of Red or White Alpines set up 
with their own leaves is for ornament alone a good addition to the 
dessert. 
The best plants are those raised from seed. They are more vigorous, 
less liable to suffer from drought, are more continuous-bearing, and 
more to be depended upon for autumn supply. The best plants I ever 
had were from seed distributed by the Royal Horticultural Society 
some years ago. Plants from runners are of too weak growth, the fruit 
after the first picking becoming small, and the runners they produce do 
not keep up the successional and autumn supply. With some sorts of 
Alpine Strawberries propagation by runners must be practised, as it is 
a ready mode and all cannot have seed ; besides, in seed-saving the 
finest and best fruit must be sacrificed ; but considering that plants 
from seed are the best, and bear the finest fruit both in summer and 
autumn, I strongly recommend this mode of propagation. In sowing 
seed we do not run the same risk of perpetuating plants which yield 
but small fruit, or are shy bearers, as we do when taking runners from 
a bed in which there are various degrees of vigour, size of fruit, and 
continuance of bearing. The plants propagated by runners seem to 
become weaker, and for anything 1 know may sink to an equality with 
the plants on a hedge bank. By taking the fruit of the most vigorous 
and most continuous-bearing plants, and sowing, we obtain plants fully 
equal to the parents. In no case have I known them inferior, for it is 
not species which run into all sorts of forms and give so many useless 
ones, though there are at times great results, but the cross-breds. Not 
only do Alpine Strawberries come true from seed, but every generation 
shows a marked improvement in the majority of the offspring, and it is 
by this progressive improvement that I hope to see the Alpine yielding 
fruit of the size of such varieties as Black Prince. Autumn production 
and increased size of fruit from plants raised from seed are not peculiar 
to the Alpine Strawberry alone, the autumn fruiting Raspberry is 
influenced in the same way. The seedlings are in most instances finer 
than the parent, none or few producing inferior fruit. 
The Alpine Strawberry succeeds best in soil overlying gravel, lime¬ 
stone, or in those medium-textured loams that are neither heavy nor 
light, and have an open subsoil from which superfluous water passes 
away freely. In light open soils the plants succeed with copious 
waterings in dry weather after they come into flower and during bear¬ 
ing, but in heavy wet soils they do not thrive, at least they do not with 
me. The plants are apt to go off in winter, and in soils of this kind 
I have found a raised bed advantageous. It may be formed of any 
kind of rough material, marking out a space about 8 feet wide, and 
raising, about a foot high in the centre, a mound of stones or gravel, 
which is covered with a foot thick of soil. This may consist of two 
parts loam, neither heavy nor light, enriched with one part of well- 
rotted manure—old cowdung is best. All round I place bricks on 
edge, alternately headers and stretchers, and when I have formed a row 
all round I have cavities which are filled with soil level with the upper 
sides of the bricks. I then place another row or tier of bricks as before, 
and so on to the top, or until the bricks from both sides meet in the 
centre of the mound. It may seem strange to employ bricks for such a 
purpose, and it may be thought that a raised mound would answer just 
as well. It does not, however, for the plants cannot be so well watered, 
the water running away too quickly by the surface, and this is pre¬ 
vented by the brick terraces, and the bricks keep the fruit from damp¬ 
ing, as it is apt to do in autumn from the frequent rains. The spaces 
for the plants formed by the bricks are filled with soil, and one plant is 
planted in each. Tne situation should be open, and the ends of the bed 
ought to be north and south. In such a bed the plants continue bearing 
until late in autumn. Alpine Auriculas in heavy soils are quite at 
home in beds of this description, and Parsley thrives where, from the 
wetness and coldness of the soil, it is not to be had in winter when 
most wanted. In most soils, however, such contrivances are not 
required, all that is needed being a good trenching, and manure 
liberally worked in. A border or bank facing south is not good ; the 1 
plants grow best on an east border. On a north border they succeed 
very well for summer fruiting, and an open spot with the lines running 
north and south answers very well. 
The seed should be sown in February or the beginning of March in 
a shallow box or pan, well drained, and filled with a compost of two 
parts loam, and one part leaf mould, covering lightly with fine soiP. 
Place the pan in a gentle heat of from 70° to 75°, keep moist and close 
until the seedlings are up, then admit air, and keep them near the glass'. 
When large enough to handle prick them off in shallow boxes or pansv 
employing a light loam enriched with one-third leaf mould. They 
should stand about an inch apart. Return them to the frame, and keep 
them close and moist, shading from bright sun for a few days until 
they recover, and are growing freely. Then give them plenty of air, 
harden them well off by the beginning of May, and plant them out 
where they are to fruit. 
In planting three lines may be placed in a 4-feet bed at 14 inches 
apart, and the plants 1 foot from each other in the lines. The outside 
lines may be 6 inches from the edges, and 1-foot alleys being left, they 
will be 2 feet from the opposite outside lines of each bed. They may 
also be planted in lines 18 inches apart, and the plants 1 foot asunder 
in the lines, putting in two lines, and then allowing 2 feet between these 
and the next two lines, which space will serve as an alley, affording 
access to the plants for gathering the fruit and watering. The plants 
should be lifted carefully, preserving the roots as far as possible, and a 
good watering given, which should be repeated in dry weather. Before 
the dog days the intervals between the rows should every year be 
mulched with short manure or leaf mould. This to a great extent 
prevents evaporation, furnishes a good material for the runners to root 
in, and watering carries down a portion of the nourishing matters o3 
the top-dressing to the Strawberry roots. The better the plants are 
attended to with water the better they will grow. They will not bear 
much the fiist year, though in autumn they may afford a tolerably good 
supply. 
For autumn fruiting in the first year the seed ought to be sown at 
the end of January or beginning of February in heat, the seedlings 
pricked off when large enough, forwarded in heat, and hardened off by 
the end of April, when they should be planted out. When the plants 
commence blooming slates or tiles should be placed between the rows 
to prevent the dampness of the soil in autumn causing the fruit to> 
decay. There is another advantage in the slates besides preserving the 
fruit—they become heated by the sun’s rays, and the fruit acquire a- 
better flavour. The runners ought to be allowed to grow ; they should 
not be cut off as they appear, for from them we hope for fruit in- 
autumn, as w T ell as from the parent plants. 
Instead of raising plants from seed for autumn fruiting, runners of 
the previous year may be planted in March or the beginning of April* 
and treated like the seedlings, only they are not put under glass. For 
summer fruiting and continuing the supply until autumn the runners 
should be planted out when they become well rooted, and during the 
year in which they are produced by the parent plants. The trusses of 
bloom ought to be pinched off as they show on those planted in spring 
to furnish late autumn fruit until August, as by allowing them to fruit 
before they become established we keep them weak, unable to give more, 
than a moiety of autumn fruit. 
Having the plants established from seed or runners, in March I cut 
away all the runners not rooted, point the soil between the lines and. 
around the plants, and give a top-dressing of decayed manure fully an 
inch thick. When the plants are coming into bloom give a similar top- 
dressing, and afterwards water copiously in dry weather. There is no¬ 
necessity for putting down slates in summer or in the second year, for- 
the crop will come in from July to the end of August. When the 
gatherings are becoming smaller —the plants are very sluggish in August,, 
as most Alpines are from the drought—I take away any runners where 
too crowded, but not many, and top-dress again, putting the top-dressing, 
neatly round the plants and runners, and give a good soaking of water 
then and every third day as long as the weather continues dry. I place 
some slates between the rows by the end of September, destroying some, 
runners which would have fruited no doubt but for the slates ; but any 
loss from this cause is compensated for by the fruit being prevented 
from decaying. The result the second year is plenty of fruit in July 
and August, the supply slackening a little at the end of the month ^ 
and from September to Christmas if the weather is mild I have fruit— 
not a dish every day but very often, and might have a dish every day if 
a sufficient number of plants were grown. 
In the third year trim and top-dress in March. Leave a good many, 
runners at that time between the rows, and water well after they come 
into bloom. They will bear an immense number of fruit—small but* 
the finest of all for preserving, as they keep their form so well, and 
they are particularly desirable for glasses on the table. It is hard to* 
tell whether the red or wLitr are the more beautiful. After they have 
borne all the fruit they will in the third year, break up the bed, and- 
plant the ground with anything but Strawberries. To keep up a. 
supply we must sow or plant every year, or not more seldom than every 
alternate year. 
If blight appears it is a sign that the watering is insufficient or runs- 
off by the surface without wetting the soil, as water often does on 
slopes. In this case holes should be made with an iron bar or rod, and 
the water given gently. By the exercise of a little patience the soil 
may thus be made thoroughly moist. The blight or mildew disappears 
when the soil becomes moist, and a good wetting overhead on the 
evenings of hot days will wash it off the fruit, and keep the latter from. 
