168 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Nov. 15th, 1884. 
Strawberry Growing.—It is an undisputed Jact 
that of all the fruits we cultivate, none are relished 
more than the Strawberry. In the season it forms 
the chief dish of dessert on the table, from that of 
royalty to the smallest of amateur gardeners. Straw¬ 
berries are alike enjoyed by the invalid and the 
robust and strong, and in a word may be termed ‘ ‘ a 
universal fruit.” To make the following hints to 
amateurs perfectly clear, I will divide the subject into 
four heads, viz.:—the preparation of the land; the 
preparation of the plants ; the best varieties to grow ; 
and their general cultivation. I may here state that 
the four most important points to be observed are (1) 
to dig the land deeply, (2) to manure it heavily, (3) 
to plant it early, and (4) to cultivate it cleanly. 
Preparation or the Land. —A rich loamy soil is 
perhaps the best staple to work upon. Nevertheless, 
the writer of these “ hints ” has grown Strawberries 
with success in the strong clays of Sussex, the blow- 
away sands of Surrey, the rich loams of Yorkshire, 
and the sandy soil of the Midlands, so that no person 
need be afraid, let them soil be of whatever texture 
it may. Our .Strawberry plantations succeed early 
Potatos. We use good farm-yard manure at about 
the rate of thirty tons per acre. We then dig the 
ground deeply, taking very small spits. After the 
digging is finished, we tread it firmly, giving it a rough 
rake over, and the work of preparation is finished. 
Preparation of the Plants. —The runners we layer 
in small 60-sized pots, placing a flat stone on the top of 
the runner to keep it in position. The young plants 
are kept well-watered, and in three weeks they will 
be sufficiently rooted to be put out in then permanent 
places. 
The Varieties to Grow. —Here I may remark that 
Laxton’s “ King of the Earlies ” is, perhaps, the 
earliest of all, as its name implies, but it has one 
fault: it is this year too dear for amateurs. -The 
four most prolific Strawberries that I have any 
knowledge of, and which I name in the order of their 
ripening, are (1) Burgliley President, (2) Sir Charles 
Napier, (3) La Gros Sucree, and, for the latest of all, 
(4) Oxonian. These four varieties are ample for my 
Lord’s garden, and so I think they should be for 
amateurs. 
General Cultivation. —Prom the middle of August 
to September 1st is my favourite time for planting out 
Strawberries, and they should be planted at from 2 ft. 
6 ins. to 3 ft. apart all ways. The mode of planting 
is as follows :—We first set out the quarter of land, 
and then beginning at one side, stretch the line. 
Taking a spade and making the holes, we then very 
carefully turn out the plants, and ram each plant 
firmly with a small rammer, the work of planting 
being then finished. I may here note that on plants 
thus planted I have counted, in the following May, 
three hundred and seventy blooms on a single plant, 
the variety being Sir Charles Napier. If size and 
quality are looked for in the fruit, the first year’s 
plants are by a long way the best. 
Remarks. —Between each row of Strawberries I 
always plant my winter Lettuce, a crop which I 
consider pays the cost of the manure, while doing the 
plants no harm whatever. In June the Lettuces come 
off, when we hoe the land and put on the mulching, 
and to make all secure they are netted immediately 
the fruit begins to colour. If these rules are carried 
out, Strawberries may be had early and late, and 
also in abundance.— R. Gilbert, High Park Gardens, 
Stamford. 
-- 
Ampelopsis Veitcliii.—Let all amateur gar¬ 
deners who contemplate planting a Virginian Creeper 
against the walls of their dwellings, select this species 
in preference to the common variety. It possesses 
this great advantage, that the shoots, like those of 
the Creeping Ivies, attach themselves to the wall or 
fence against which it grows by means of powerful 
stem roots. It is much smaller in the leaf than 
the common Virginian Creeper, it makes a dense and 
rapid growth, and so covers a large space of wall. It 
colours as finely as the common form. A few days 
since I saw in the neighbourhood of Turnham Green 
on the gable end of a villa residence, a plant of A. 
Veitchii that had grown in the shape of a huge fan, 
the leaves at the base had dropped, but there remained 
a broad edging of foliage, looking like a huge orna¬ 
mental border to a fan. The lowermost leaves were red 
and brown ; the next were yellow and green ; while the 
younger shoots were reddish-bronze. The effect was 
singularly picturesque and unusual, and could be seen 
from a long distance. Plant it in good soil, where it 
can root deeply and firmly establish itself, and there 
it will be an object of great beauty for years to come. 
—Quo. 
--- 
Berberis stenophylla. —If any amateur wishes 
to have a pretty, bright, early-flowering wall plant, let 
him select this charming hybrid. It is evergreen and 
beautiful, it blooms profusely; the colour of the 
flowers is orange-yellow, and these are followed by an 
abundance of purple berries. It is one of those plants 
of which it may be said with pierfect truth, that it 
deserves a place in every garden.— E. IF. 
On Pruning Gooseberries. —No fruit is so 
badly treated in the matter of pruning as the 
Gooseberry, it being almost the universal rule to cut 
back and spur all young .wood, whereas the shoots 
ought never to be shortened back, unless fresh shoots 
are wanted to fill up any badly furnished parts of the 
tree, or take the place of old worn-out branches. In 
pruning Gooseberries we only thin the shoots, 
cutting them clean out, and those required for fruit¬ 
bearing are left their full length; never shortening 
back a shoot unless it be for the purpose mentioned. 
It is on the young wood that the best and heaviest 
fruits are borne; and every shoot cut back pushes 
out five or six the next season, which monopolize all 
the energies that otherwise would be concentrated 
towards fruit-bearing. Anyone trying this system 
against the other will soon be convinced of its supe¬ 
riority both as to quantity and quality of the fruit. 
A good red Gooseberry which I would recommend 
for growing for dessert purposes, with Wingham’s 
Industry and Warrington, is Crown Bob, a very heavy 
cropper and of first-rate quality, but it is not so large 
as Industry,nor so strong a grower.— R. Stevens,Paston. 
- g~~ ' — 
TAKING UP AND STORING 
ROOTS. 
Although we have been enjoying almost summer 
weather for some long time past, we cannot expect it 
to last; and when the change does come it may be 
with great suddenness, as already we are getting far 
into November, a time when we generally get sharp 
frost, and therefore it will be well to be thinking of the 
roots now out, as Beet and Carrots are no longer safe 
in the ground, and they should therefore be got up 
with all speed, and stored to be drawn from for use as 
required. 
In lifting Beet great care is required that they be 
not bruised or the top root broken, as when injured in 
either of those ways they cannot be cooked so as to 
maintain their nice colour, for the simple reason 
that they “ bleed” ; and not only does the loss of the 
juice affect them in the manner referred to, but spoils 
them flavour by robbing them of much saccharine 
matter that runs out into the water. This being so, 
the bulbs should be dug clean out by raising a spit of 
soil behind and then thrusting the spade down on the 
other side, when, by lowering the handle and pulling 
at the top of the Beet with the left hand, each one 
may be drawn out and laid aside till the whole are out of 
the ground. The next thing for the operator to do is 
to wring off the tops and place the roots in a barrow 
ready for wheeling off to a shed or cellar, in one or 
other of which places they should be packed out of 
reach of the frost. The way I have always found 
Beet to keep best is put into heaps or stacks with their 
crowns outwards, and the spaces between the roots 
filled with dry sand or earth, which prevents the air 
getting among them and causing them to shrivel, 
which contraction spoils them, as instead of being 
tender, juicy, and succulent, they are tough or hard in 
the fibre. 
Carrots require precisely the same treatment both as 
to taking up and storing, and on no account should 
the tops be wrung or cut off close enough to injure the 
crown, for if they are that part is sure to rot, especially 
if the roots are pitted and get damp or warm, after 
which comes mould or fungus, and then they decay at 
a great rate. To prevent these evils dryness and cool¬ 
ness are essential, conditions that can be secured by 
storing in a well-ventilated shed. 
Parsnips are so hardy that they take no harm in 
the ground, indeed, they are improved greatly by 
being left there, as frost sweetens them and makes 
them much milder in flavour. As, however, they are 
difficult to get up, when wanted, with the earth frozen 
hard, it is a good plan to dig them out and lay them 
thickly in rows, with their crowns just under the soil, 
when, should very sharp weather set in, they can 
easily be covered with a little fitter, if any are likely 
to be required, while the frost lasts. 
Some top and tail Turnips that are needed for 
winter use, but I prefer laying them in just as they 
are drawn out of the ground and burying the bulbs a 
few inches deep, leaving the tops on, as, when stored 
in that way, I always find the Turnips better when 
cooked. Topped and tailed they lose much of their 
juiciness and become strong, especially if kept for any 
time, but under the earth they remain plump and 
mild. 
To store Onions there is no place equal to an open, 
airy shed, where they can be hung on nails, driven 
into the rafters or walls, as there the wind plays on 
them, dries their skins, and prevents them from 
rotting or growing. Before hanging or suspending 
them they should be bunched up into small parcels 
or roped, by securing the tops with matting, when, 
after making a loop, they may soon be slung on the 
nails. 
Potatos should, if possible, be kept in a cellar,and not 
potted, as the covering of them up so close with straw 
and earth makes them eat strong and rank and spoils 
the best samples that ever were grown. The proper way 
is to lay the tubers on a hard, dry floor, but not over 
thick, and if there is danger of frost getting in they 
may be slightly covered with clean straw, which is 
also necessary, in some cases, to keep them dark and 
prevent greening of the skins, which exposure to fight 
soon brings on, and unfits them for cooking. To 
stop sprouting, the cellar or shed the Potatos are in 
should be kept as cool as possible and the stock turned 
by the aid of a wooden shovel, which movement 
breaks off any shoots that are showing and retards or 
stops the formation of others. Samples for seed ought 
to be placed, in shallow boxes, and kidney kinds should 
only be one deep, and placed with the crown end 
upennost, that the shoots may come free from obstruc¬ 
tion.— Alpha. 
EDWARD SANDERSON. 
The annual recurrence of the Exhibition of the 
National—late the Borough of Hackney—Chry¬ 
santhemum Society, affords a fitting opportunity for 
giving a portrait of its genial and popular President, 
Mr. Edward Sanderson, of Harlesden Park, Willesden. 
He has filled this important office for nearly a quarter 
of a century. His tact, honest impartiality, sterling 
common sense, and consideration for difference of 
opinion, added to his high business capacity and 
geniality, have done much to ensure the success of 
the National Chrysanthemum Society, assisted by his 
able colleague, Mr. R. Ballantine, Vice-President, 
of South Hackney, and that prince of modern 
Secretaries, Mr. William Holmes. The esprit de 
corps which prevails among the Committee of the 
Society has greatly helped to secure for it full public 
confidence. 
Of Mr. Sanderson we may state that his whole 
floricultural career, now extended over a period of 
nearly forty years, has been devoted to his first 
and latest love, the Chrysanthemum. He saw the 
formation of the Original Stoke Newington Chry¬ 
santhemum Society by Messrs. James, Holmes, and 
Tant, in 1846, and he tells how, having visited an 
exhibition at the famed Rochester Castle, when he 
first saw Chrysanthemums produced in exhibition 
form, he, in 1848, purchased at Warner’s, Cornliill, 
his first dozen plants, when living in the Queen’s 
Road, Dalston, then quite a rural district; grew them 
in pots out-of-doors, and when it was unsafe to keep 
them longer in the open-air, brought them within 
doors, and flowered them on a table in his drawing¬ 
room ; and it is with glee that he recites how, in 
order to admit more fight into the room, he ruth- 
