THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 10. | 
have taken a fancy that the very acme of perfection lias I 
been attained in gardening, may at once reconsider their j 
position, and still press forward ; or, as one of our useful | 
contributors has styled himself, let the cry, if they please, 
be “ upwards and onwards.” 
When we cast a glance over the many plans which 
have been broached, through the medium of the gar¬ 
dening press, as to Strawberry-culture, we may readily 
perceive that the question separates into two broad divi¬ 
sions to begin with—the one, howto cultivate the noblest 
fruit fit for the exhibition-table—the other, how to j 
obtain the most profit. It so happens, as I think, that j 
these two phases of the question are sufficiently distinct 
to constitute, as it were, landmarks in the affair; and 
with a just conception of the points in which any given 
question hinges, we may hope, by a dispassionate 
handling, to arrive at tangible facts. About the per- j 
manency of the Strawberry, under a course of culture j 
adapted to its continuance in a profitable shape, as a 
perennial, for a few years, there can be no doubt; there 
is, also, I conceive, little room to doubt, that with a 
peculiar course of culture, two, three, aye, lour or five- 
year-old plants of certain kinds, on eligible sites, will 
prove more profitable than those grown by what is 
termed the runner-system. It is of no avail, that those 
who have sworn by the runner-system only, try to pooh 
down this perennial plan; we must try and introduce 
a little liberality of sentiment and feeling into this, as, 
indeed, into all other things. 
I must now advert to what I will call the perennial- 
system, which is so seldom done justice to that I will 
point to a few facts in culture before I proceed further. 
I have now a plot or two of the Keen's Seedling , a 
kind not yet to bo despised, that have borne most 
excellent crops for seven years; and .1 have no doubt 
will continue so to do for two, or three, or four years 
more. The berries, of course, are not quite so large as 
those grown--from young plants under very particular 
culture, but of one thing I am persuaded, that I have 
heavier crops in the aggregate ; and this, where people 
require a considerable quantity for preserving purposes, 
&c., is an important affair. But these have a kind of 
culture adapted to their habits and age. It is very 
common to hear complaints of old beds running all to 
leaf, and no wonder; they get to be a complete bush, 
and the whole of the interior is good for nothing; nay, 
a positive evil. In the first place, our superior Straw¬ 
berries have no business in what are termed “ beds.” 
Persons possessing but a very small space of ground, 
and desirous of having a Strawberry plot, very naturally 
conclude that they must plant closer together than 
other folks; this conclusion, however, is most fallacious, 
as the least consideration will show. It is obvious, that 
the practice which is most productive and profitable in 
an acre is so on a single pole for the same reasons; 
indeed, how could it be otherwise? Such parties too 
often manure liberally, thinking they will have finer 
Strawberries, and hence, although they may, the first 
season or two, have a few swaggering berries, their 
plants speedily become choked, and, of course, un¬ 
fruitful, and the owners wonder what is the matter. 
Now, the manure they use might not be too liberal for 
the single-row system, for the beneficial results of 
manurial matters are almost always in proportion to the 
amount of unobstructed light that the parts of a plant 
receive. 
The Keens Seedlings I adverted to were originally 
planted in rows, thirty-three inches apart, but with age 
they have approached somewhat closer. The plants 
were, at first, fourteen inches apart in the row, but after 
bearing one good crop, every other plant was cut clear 
away, thus leaving the permanent plants twenty-eight 
inches apart. The ground was deeply trenched, and a 
good deal of only half-decayed manurial matters 
trenched down, whilst a dressing more decayed was 
worked in near the surface. 
But I must come, now, to subsequent practice, which I 
consider of much importance. This consisted, after two 
crops, in an annual digging and manuring between the 
rows. I can fancy, now, that I see some of our cul¬ 
tivators, and who consider themselves perfectly orthodox 
in Strawberry culture, and who are, as they imagine, 
fortunate in differing from me, taking off their spec¬ 
tacles, and giving them an extra wipe, in order to ascer¬ 
tain whether they have read me aright. However, the 
glasses duly restored to their rightful sovereignty of the 
nasal organ, I will explain why I adopted this practice, 
seemingly in defiance of first principles connected with 
the habits of the Strawberry. It is pretty well known, 
I believe, that most perennial plants, when standing 
long in a soil, become somewhat exhausted, have a ten¬ 
dency to roam further in quest of that food which is 
requisite not only to continue them in health, but also 
to sustain the demands consequent on fruit or seed 
bearing. Such fibres are multiplied annually, not only 
collaterally, but upwards, at a higher level. Hence the 
rationale, in part, of surface-dressing to attain specific 
objects ; and hence, although it may appear wide of our 
subject, the dressing of pasture lands with our farmers, 
the result of which is, another and higher series of 
fibres. So it appears that there are two ways of mul¬ 
tiplying and feeding trees or vegetables, through the 
medium of excited fibres, multiplied almost at will: 
the one by the extremities of exciting roots coaxed 
into a feeding medium; and the oLhcr by creating, if 
the term may be pardonable, a host of new fibres at 
a higher level than before. I do hope that this circum¬ 
locution, if such it must be deemed, will be pardoned, 
for the sake of the point to which it is meant to tend, 
viz., the reasons why Strawberry plants fall in with 
these principles. 
The Strawberry plants in rows, before alluded to, 
being, as stated, thirty-three inches apart between the 
rows, each row, of course, enjoys a space for the roots, 
sideways, of about sixteen inches; but with the annual 
root-culture, which I am about to describe, about one 
foot on each side only is filled with the undisturbed 
perennial roots, and the nine or ten inches in each 
centre between the rows is annually dug and cultivated; 
in other words, annually filled, by the month of May, 
with a new series of white fibres revelling in fresh 
compost. Here, then, is the pivot on which the mode 
of culture depends, in conjunction with a slight surface¬ 
dressing, and as 1 claim not for it a pre-eminence above 
other modes, by any means, so I, as certainly, claim for 
it a consideration, having succeeded right well with it 
for several years; and I do think that in thus showing 
1 forth various practices, that some service is rendered to 
horticulture, inasmuch as to the reflecting mind it 
i tends to throw light on the habitudes and adapta¬ 
bilities of plants under culture. 
But I lay much stress on the period at which this 
annual digging is performed. I consider that one great 
object, in Strawberry culture, is to produce as strong 
; and abundant a bloom as possible, with a subdued 
foliage. It is all very well to suppose that the greater 
the amount of leaf, the more copious the elaborating of 
the sap; but this, though involving facts of high 
import, may not settle this matter, there are other 
collateral points which have a tendency to alter the 
whole tone of the affair, but these considerations would 
lead me too far a field. 
Now, it is known that any operation of this kind 
should not be performed whilst the plant is in the full 
exercise of its functions; and, therefore, the dormant 
season offers the best chance for such a process. And, 
moreover, I consider it absolutely essential that the 
plants should be in possession of their new fibres by the 
i 
