91 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 11, 1858. 
roots, and the runners are separated from the old plant, they 
are repotted into the fruiting pots. Is the benefit of this plan so 
great as to compensate for the additional trouble ? Would it 
not do as well to lay the runners into the fruiting pots at once, 
especially as rather small pots are recommended to fruit them 
in ? The pots of those which have borne a crop in the spring, 
will be available to put among the roots in the open ground, 
to lay the runners in, as soon as any are ready, in June, July, 
and August. 
“ 2. Is there any great advantage in taking up from the 
ground and potting nice strong young plants in the spring, 
taking off all blossoms and runners during the summer, and 
afterwards treating them as the runners, after being separated 
from the old plants ? 
“ 3. Some of the forced plants do not throw up any 
blossoms. Is it worth while to keep them in the pots for 
forcing the next season, as I see some gardeners, quoted by 
! Mr. Loudon, used to grow them for two years before forcing ? 
“ 4. Having a leaf bed, with a nice gentle heat, in a late 
vinery, will the Strawberries do best plunged into the bed, 
standing on the bed, or raised up nearer the glass on a shelf? 
“ 5. What is the cause of the green fly attacking the Blade 
Prince Strawberries when in blossom, while other sorts, under 
; the same treatment, escape ? This has been the case with 
mine this season. 
“ 6. In November and December, is it better to keep the 
plants out of doors, preserving them from frost and heavy 
rains with straw, &c., or to take them at once in houses, at 
rest, where the frost is only just kept out ? This last plan 
seems the safest, and is attended with less trouble ; but will it 
be equally well for the Strawberry plants ? 
“ 7. Supposing the 1st of January the time of beginning to 
force, would it be any advantage to bring them on in a dung 
hotbed for about a month, and then put them into a forcing 
house about the beginning of February ? Or would they do 
| equally well in a house from the first, although the atmosphere 
of the house was not moist, except what might arise from a 
leaf bed where the heat at that time would be very little ? 
“ 8. You have often given directions how to treat Camellias 
and Azaleas after flowering, by putting them into a vinery, 
&c. Will you be kind enough to say how Rhododendrons , in 
pots, and Daphne Indica should be treated after flowering, 
until the season for flowering again.”—C lericus. 
[We should have felt pleasure in giving a long answer to 
your various inquiries, had not most of them been fully dis¬ 
cussed in previous volumes, and some of them even so lately 
as page 351, of the last volume. 
1. The laying the runners into small pots in summer, and 
then repotting them into pruning pots, i consider the best 
mode, but many of our head gardeners lay the runners into 
the fruiting pot at once; and if the pots are large 32’s or 
24’s, they lay two runners in a pot, and are very successful. 
Mr. Snow, at Wrest Park, and Mr. Forbes^ at Woburn Abbey, 
generally lay the runners in the fruiting pots. In a previous 
volume I described how Mr. Forbes performed the operation, 
having a little cone in the centre of the pot, so that the plant 
should be well elevated, and not sunk beneath the rim. Our 
correspondent must, therefore, in such a case, decide for him¬ 
self. I generally lay the runners in small pots, for these 
| reasons. The season is generally a busy one, and it requires 
much less time to use 60’s than 4-8’s or 32’s; and neither is the 
same nicety required in filling and draining. When laid at 
once in fruiting pots, worms are apt to get in and clog the 
{ drainage, and the soil gets sour and unhealthy. When re¬ 
potted from small pots, the centre of the ball is sure to be 
filled with roots. The soil used is sweet, and mellow, and 
fresh for the roots to run into. The plant can be potted 
firmly, and the collar kept well elevated, and the pots can be 
so placed that there will be little danger of worms getting 
into them, and so as to receive all possible light. These 
operations can generally be better attended to, than when the 
layers can first be obtained. When I have been very busy 
and could spare two or three lights of frame, I have taken olf 
the runners with a good bit of the stem left, just as roots 
appeared, and inserted them about three inches apart, in 
light, rich soil, in a frame, covered them with glass, watered 
and shaded until well rooted, and then lifted and transferred 
to the fruiting pots. Any of these plans will answer, if other 
matters are properly attended to. 
2. We do not think there would be any advantage in the 
plan proposed. South of the Midland Counties, runners of 
the season answer as well, or better, than older plants ; farther 
north, two-year old plants are much used. If you are so 
situated, we would not advise taking up strong plants in 
spring as you propose, but either in the autumn or the spring 
we would select small plants or runners left on the bed, prick 
them out on a rich border, six inches apart, remove what 
flowers appeared, and lift and place in their fruiting pots in 
May, June, or the beginning of July. We are presuming 
that you are to use six-inch pots. Such large plants as you 
propose, would require large pots. We have sometimes 
adopted this plan, but seldom found better results, than from 
runners. In the north, such a plan is advisable. 
3. Many force their plants a second season, whether they 
have fruited or not. I have frequently done so, when I could 
not get runners early enough, but I never kept them in the 
same pots. After being taken from the houses, they were 
placed behind a wall, so as to be shaded and rested for a 
month or two, say until the end of June, and water given just 
to keep them from flagging. About that time they were 
examined, and if a plant had broken into a number of buds, 
all the smaller ones were picked out, leaving a couple, or so, 
of the best. The plants were turned out of the pots, the 
balls broken carefully with the hand, the most of the old soil 
got rid of, and then the plant placed in fresh soil, in a similar¬ 
sized, clean pot, and encouraged to fill the pot with roots, 
and ripen the buds before autumn. This mode is far prefer¬ 
able to leaving them in the pots. In Hertfordshire, I have 
not found this mode preferable to runners. Farther north, 
I believe it would beat runners often. By turning such plants 
out into the ground, as a regular plantation, you may have 
Strawberries from them late in the autumn, and a wonderful 
crop the following season. When I have turned such a plant 
early into a large pot, a great produce was obtained the follow¬ 
ing year, but the fruit was not so fine as that got from 
smaller and younger plants. 
4. As to plunging the pots in gentle heat, see Yol. XIX., 
page 362. Jtis advantageous, if well managed. If care is not 
exercised, the plants will do better placed on a shelf near 
the glass at once. If in a frame, the plants should be near the 
glass, and will be safer if the pots stand on a hard bottom. 
Your bed, I presume, will be too far from the glass. 
5. All forced Strawberries are, more or less, subject to the 
green fly, but some seasons we hardly meet with one. The 
reason why you have found Black Prince affected, and other 
kinds free, I presume, to be owing to the temperature being 
too high. See Yol. XIX., page 361. The Prince will not 
stand so much beat as Keen's or the Queen. 
6. The plants will do best under the protection of glass in 
winter, where such protection can be afforded them. A little 
frost will do them no harm, but they w r ould just be as well if 
the earth was not much frosted. In such a place the roots 
may be di’yish, rather than otherwise, but not too dry. See 
the article referred to, page 362. 
7. See the above page and answer to 4th query. The advan¬ 
tage will depend entirely on the management. The great 
disadvantage in such a dung bed, from November to February 
is, that with air, &c., in dull weather, the tops of the plants 
are kept too moist. After the middle of February, if the 
glass is clean, the plants near it, the bottom heat mild, and 
the roots prevented running in the bed, the plants may be 
nicely forwarded for going into houses. Before January and 
February, if that attention cannot be given, it will be safer to 
place them in a house shut up . for forcing at once. If only 
one house is so used, a sweet, mild hotbed will do well, if care 
is taken that the roots are neither too hot nor too dry for 
forwarding successions. When the first lot shows bloom, 
another lot should be placed in the frame. The last crop 
may be ripened in the frame before the earliest out-of-doors 
comes in. In early forcing, the moisture in the atmosphere 
that would suit a Beach house, or a vinery, would be quite 
sufficient for Strawberries. All would be benefited from what 
escaped from fermenting leaves in a pit in the middle ot the 
house. But unless your house is glass all round, and nothing 
to shade the roof, the Strawberries will be too far from the 
glass, if placed on the surface of such a bed. 
8. Treat the Daphnes much the same as the Camellias. 
When stopped growing, and the buds are set at the points of 
