TIIE CULTIVATION OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
67 
March the plants are planted out. Through the first season they are not allowed to bloom 
hut all the flowers are removed while in a young state, and hence the plants become unusually 
strong, and in the second year produce a most abundant crop. Between the rows, Onions, 
Lettuce, or any other light-foliaged crop, is grown; which acting as a partial shading to 
the Strawberries, they are much benefited thereby. Plants thus treated generally produce 
two enormous crops, and are then destroyed. 
Another plan of growing Strawberries, and by which Messrs. Myatt and Son, the well- 
known growers of Manor Farm, Deptford, have produced their finest fruit, is the following :— 
A piece of ground having been prepared by manuring and deep trenching ; it is marked out 
into four-feet beds, with fifteen-inch alleys between. In these alleys, either in the autumn or 
early in the spring, a row of strong plants is planted, and the beds are cropped with summer 
Lettuce. As the Strawberry plants progress in growth, the young plants from the runners 
are carefully layered among the Lettuce, taking care to get them established as early in the 
season as possible ; thus the plants become unusually strong, and, under proper management, 
produce crops of very large fruit. 
A fourth plan, and a very excellent one too, upon unfavourable soils, is, after manuring and 
trenching the ground, to take out trenches the same as for Celery, and, after filling them with 
proper compost, to plant them with suitable plants. This, where the soil is unusually heavy 
or very light, gives the plants a fair start, and upon unsuitable soils is one of the best plans 
that can be pursued. 
Strawberry banks, or terraces, as they are sometimes called, are excellent, and more 
especially in small gardens ; as, if the soil to raise the beds can be procured, a very considerable 
increase of space is gained by the raised banks. The terraces are formed in the following 
manner:—A space of ground, of any given length, and six feet wide, being marked out, 
a wall nine inches high, of stones, flints, vitrified bricks, old roots, or wood, is formed, 
and the space between the walls is filled with suitable compost; upon this compost, and nine 
inches within the walls, two more walls are built of the same material, and are filled in in the 
same way, and thus the work proceeds, until the space comes to a single row of plants at the 
top. A bank of this kind may be planted at any time, taking care, at the time of putting the 
plants in, to make the surface of the ground to slope inwards, so as to insure a full supply of 
moisture at the roots. Banks so arranged will generally produce for several years, and with 
the prepared compost, and the plants being properly exposed to the full influence of the atmos¬ 
phere, they generally produce very fine fruit. Another advantage of an arrangement of this 
kind is, that by letting the beds run from east to west, a very early and a very late bed is 
insured, and thus a supply of fruit may be procured for a longer period than under ordinary 
management. The front of a Vine border, where the former is, as it always ought to be, 
above the level of the soil, is an excellent situation for an early bed ; and a bed so arranged will 
always be found superior to such things as “tiles,” or any other of the aids so perseveringly 
recommended for the production of early fruit. Between the plants small stones, slates, tiles, 
or clinkers from the hothouses may be placed; and thus, by absorbing heat, shading the ground 
from the direct action of the sun, preventing the evaporation of moisture, and providing a clean 
surface for the fruit to rest upon, offer advantages which cannot be obtained by any other 
system of management. As far as our experience goes, the Strawberry tiles do not offer any 
very superior advantages, and the feet, which raise them above the level of the ground, are 
certainly no advantage to them, as they prevent the transmission of heat to the soil, they are 
readily cooled, and facilitate, rather than prevent, the evaporation of moisture. Tiles or slates, 
resting upon the ground, are very preferable. 
So far we have indicated some of the most successful systems of cultivating this admirable 
fruit, from which we trust the most uninitiated may be enabled to undertake its management. 
Copious waterings, and with liquid manure, are very necessary, from the time the plants begin 
to show their blossom until the fruit is ripe; but care must be taken not to over-water them, 
or the quality of the fruit will be deteriorated. 
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