THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
291. 
August 5. 
localities not far off. A great florist, who planted 
out nearly five hundred kinds of geraniums, and who 
gave me a kind invitation to go and see them, writes me 
this morning, that all the Fancies have so far failed with 
him, that they will not ho fit to be seen before next 
September. He has them on clay, and he tells me of 
another great florist who has them in light sandy 
soil, and they are looking very well; to this 1 can add 
my own mite, and say, if this light soil was over chalk 
it would be worse than the clay for them. What the 
Fancies, and all other delicate geraniums, delight in, is a 
light, mellow loam, made more sandy, and very rich on 
the top, so as to give them a start at once, for as sure as 
they once get stinted by cold, or wet, or bad soil, at 
first turning out, so sure will they go against you that 
season. If this kind of soil is on a damp bottom, all 
the better ; but no manure in any form should go much 
below the very surface for them when the bottom is 
moist. 
It is not very lawful to write about what one sees in 
a private garden, without consent; anybody may carry 
and tell tales from a public nursery, but where one’s 
house is one’s own castl6, one’s garden ought to be free 
from public criticism. But Fellows of the Horticul¬ 
tural Society, and their July visitors, have the privilege, 
through the kindness of their President, the Duke of 
Devonshire, to see one of the finest and best kept 
flower-gardens in the neighbourhood of London; of this 
l took advantage on the last exhibition day, and to add 
to my list of newish geraniums, I saw a Lilac Unique 
there, which will be a good acquisition. I saw it also at 
one of the shows, and I think with Mr. Appleby, except 
in the flower, there is not the slightest difference 
between it and the old Unique. Punch, and Oompaetum, 
t were there; and it struck me at the time, that Punch will 
be a London favourite some day, when Mr. Edmunds 
shows them in this beautiful garden how to grow it; 
but if he grows it in pots and vases, it is more than 
ever could be done by the raiser of it. D. Beaton. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS—PREPARING FOR 
FORCING. 
Many people resemble the woman with a huge nose, 
who thought that everybody was speaking about her. 
It is right to be honourably sensitive; of all disagreeables, 
save me from coming in contact with a thin-shinned 
person. “ Think beforo you speak,” is, no doubt, a 
maxim stamped with ancestral wisdom , but what a 
bore and a drag to be keeping it in view when enjoying 
the delights of free, social intercourse. And yet, think a 
hundred times, and you will not be safe; these thin- 
skinned gentry will look upon some most innocent 
remark, either as a personality, or an invasion of their 
peculiar province. With such worthies for a crew, what 
an enviable position our Captain Editor would have ! I 
have not yet seen Mr. Robson, but I seem to know him 
so well, as to find no difficulty in believing that in these 
matters he is as invulnerable as the rest of us. In the 
heading of this article, I seem to skirt that gentleman’s 
domains, and get inside the fence of friend Errington’s 
preserves. For everything connected with the forcing 
of the strawberry, I might refer, implicitly, to that 
friend’s directions. What, then, are my reasons for ad¬ 
verting to the matter here? First; because it is so far 
within my peculiar province, that numbers of enquiries 
reach me—how strawberries are to be got three weeks or 
a month earlier in a greenhouse than out-of-doors? and 
complaints, loud and deep, have come—how that this 
season they have been so disappointed, from the red 
spider getting on the strawberries, that to save the vines 
and greenhouse plants they had taken out the straw¬ 
berries long before they were ripe. And, secondly; 
because there are one or two points connected with the 
treatment of these plants afterwards that deserve to be 
better known, though I am pretty sure that I alluded to 
the subject in some periodical years ago. 
Before this reaches the reader, it will be too late to 
begin preparing plants for early forcing. I have tried 
many methods. For general purposes, I prefer laying a 
runner in a small pot, cutting it off when rooted, and 
then transferring into what is caUed a 32 or six-inch 
pot. I think by this means the ball of earth is more 
thoroughly filled with roots than when the young plant 
is layed, or planted, in a six-inch pot at once, in which 
case the outside of the ball is the densest with roots. 
For very early work, I prefer five-inch pots. I would 
here, however, refer to the directions of Mr. Errington, 
and others. It is not too late to prepare plants, when 
it is intended to put them in the greenhouse by the I 
middle or end of March. It would hardly be worth I 
while to go through the process of layering, as in going 
along the beds you will find nice-rooted young plants, 
which might be potted in six-inch pots at once, or into 
31-inch or four-inch, to be again transferred to a six- 
inch pot. The six-inch I prefer for common fruiting 
purposes, with one plant in each. When at first, or 
ultimately put in the fruiting-pots, the following trifling 
matters are essential to ultimate success :— 
1. The soil should be rich, open, and fresh, partaking 
of a loamy character. 2. ’The bud, or crown, of the ( 
plant should stand well up in the centre, and rather 
above the rim of the pot, as it will be sure to sink. 3. 
The soil must be put carefully among the roots, and it 
can scarcely he pressed too firm, if in the medium state 
of being neither wet nor dry. 4. The plants should be 
shaded a little first, until growth is freely proceeding, 
and then placed right in the sun, and on a hard bottom. ; 
5. Soot, or any other manure water, alternately with ! 
clean water, may be given until the middle of October. 
0. Then, in wet weather, the pots should be laid on then- 
sides, and only set up when the weather is fine and 
sunny, and no water given unless the leaves flag. 7. In 
November, the plants may be put in their winter quar¬ 
ters, plunged among anti-worm materials in a border, to 
he protected from heavy rains or severe frosts—built in 
ridges to be so protected—or, what is better than all, 
plunged in a pit, with either a glass or waterproof cover- • 
ing over them at will. 8. When placed on a shelf, near | 
the glass in the greenhouse, in the end of March, or i 
beginning of April, see that they do not wait for water, 
but use it rather sparingly before the flower-trusses show 
themselves; then give manure waterings, syringe with 
clear soot-water repeatedly, and if a trace of spider ap¬ 
pears, use the hydro-sulphuret of lime. 9. The best sort 
for such use is the Keans Seedling; the earliest, and 
yet good, the Blach Prince; the finest fruit, but later 
than both, the British Queen. 
“Well what a trouble, and about a few strawberries!” 
Aye, so it is. Some consider it a misfortune. I hold it 
to he the very reverse ; that what is worth having, costs 
trouble and labour. “But is there no made-easy mode j 
for getting these strawberries earlier than out-of-doors, 
and with less labour than a whole summer’s attention?” j 
Oh many! I will instance two. First, instead of potting, 
plant out the young plants on a south border, made rich 
and well dug, and from six to nine inches apart. Give 
them plenty of rich watering, keep them free from weeds 
and runners, and stick a few branches among them 
during winter. In the first days of March, take up the 
plants with large balls, and pot them firmly. Previously 
to that, from the stable, cow-house, and poultry-yard, 
and sweepings and prunings from the lawn and shrub- . 
bery, concoct a rough, slight hot-bed, that will maintain 
a bottom-lieat temperature of from 60° to 70° for a fort¬ 
night. In this bed plunge the pots, set a frame over 1 
them, but with air on back and front; the object being 
