760 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 30, 1898. 
||lNTS FOR HlVIATEURS. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
The crop of Strawberries has not been so heavy this 
year as was anticipated, owing to the spell of dry 
weather that we have had ever since the fruit com¬ 
menced to ripen. This has caused all but the 
earliest fruits to be rather small, although we have 
to a certain extent been compensated for this by 
firmness of flesh and richness of flavour. The crop 
has also been later than usual this season, although 
it seems to have lasted fully as long as it does in an 
ordinary season. In the South of England, at all 
events, the crop is practically over, although, of 
course, up North people are still enjoying the favourite 
"berry.” There is no crop that gives a better 
return than the Strawberry, and in addition to this 
no great amount of labour has to be expended upon 
getting it to do well. It is true the plant likes a 
rich, deep, loamy soil, but any ordinary garden soil 
will suit and bear crops. 
The length of time during which a Strawberry 
plantation will continue to bear good crops of fiuit 
varies from three to five years Four years, as a 
rule, is quite long enough, and in many cases it is 
not advisable to allow the plants to remain for more 
than three years. Excellent results are obtained by 
some cultivators who treat the Strawberry as an 
annual, that is, they root out the plants after they 
have fruited once. This system, however, entails a 
great deal of work, and we should not recommend it 
to the ordinary amateur, as although the fruit borne 
in the second and third years is not perhaps so large 
as in the first, the aggregate of the crop is heavier. 
Still, now and again, it is necessary to have a 
change, and a stock of plants must be worked up to 
do it. Besides this, there are plants wanted for 
forcing in pots next Spring. 
Layering should therefore be commenced directly 
the crop of fruit has been removed from the plants. 
Not a few cultivators have special stock plants from 
which their supply of runners is obtained. The 
stock plants are cot allowed to fruit, the flower 
trusses being cut out as fast as they make their 
appearance. The removal of the flower trusses 
gives an impetus to the production of runners, for 
if Nature's children cannot reproduce themselves in 
one way they will in another. Runners are thus 
forthcoming very early in the season, and have an 
extra long period of growth before them, wherein 
they may form good plump crowns and ripen the 
same thoroughly before the winter. This system is 
all very well for those who unlike the majority of 
amateur cultivators, have plenty of space and labour 
to spare, and who want extra big and fine fruits, but 
for all ordinary purposes it entails a lot of needless 
trouble. Layers obtained from plants that have 
borne fruit will, if pegged down before the end of 
July, make strong plants by Autumn. 
A number of pots of the size known as small sixties 
should be obtained. A single crock should be placed 
in the bottom of each of these, and the pots filled 
with soil. The latter may consist of any rough 
material that is handy. We always go to the old 
soil heap for ours, where a very decent compost may 
be had by just passing some of the contents of the 
heap through a rough riddle. Make the soil in the 
pots fairly firm. 
The next requisite is a supply of pegs for fastening 
down the runners. In private gardens a stock of 
these is worked up in the dull days when work is 
slack, but the amateur is scarcely likely to be so 
provided for the future as that. Pegs of sufficient 
strength may be cut in abundance from the fronds 
of the common Bracken, and a few old birch brooms 
also come in handy in this respect. If any of my 
readers live in the country where hedgerows and 
copses are to be seen instead of shops and chimneys, 
a visit to some of the aforesaid hedges will yield 
plenty of material to go on with. 
If pegs cannot be got the runners may be fastened 
down by placing stones upon the stems, but this is 
not so good a method of keeping them in place as 
the pegs, for if the pots happen to be turned over the 
young plants are disturbed. In selecting the 
runners choose the strongest. Fix the rosette of 
leaves to the soil in the pot by meaas of a peg, and 
cut off all beyond this rosette leaving the communi¬ 
cation with the parent plant undisturbed. Where 
there is a whole bed to choose from layer only three 
or four runners from each plant and cut the rest 
away. 
As watering will be a daily task if the weather 
turns out hot and dry, the pots containing the layers 
should be stood level and close together in batches 
between the rows, so that it will be fairly easy to 
water a lot of them at once by means of a rose- 
can. 
Trimming the Old Plants.—If no layers are 
wanted, and it is desired to leave the plants in the 
beds for another year or two, some tidying up will 
be necessary. The old plants should be gone over,and 
all the runners cut off close to the stool with a sharp 
knife. To do this will mean sacrificing some of the 
lower leaves as well, but this will not matter. At 
one time it used to be a very common practice to 
see the old stools cut over until they were bare all 
but for a few straggling leaves, which were left, 
apparently, to mourn the disappearance of the rest. 
Common sense, however, has taught the gardener 
that it is too drastic to trim up the stools in this 
fashion, so a middle course is adopted, whereby only 
the lower leaves are sacrificed, and the check 
received b) the plants is accordingly not nearly so 
great. 
After the preliminary cutting over has been seen 
to all the prunnings, together with the mulching of 
straw or hay that was given to prevent the fruit 
from being splashed with mud, should be raked to¬ 
gether, carted off to the rubbish heap or a piece of 
vacant ground, the latter for preference, and burnt 
out of the way. The ashes, by the way, will form a 
valuable dressing for a new plantation. 
The rubbish removed, the hoe should be set to 
work between the rows and the plants, both to 
destroy the weeds and break up the surface of the 
soil which has become rather hard by constant 
treadiDg upon it during the fruiting season. A light 
raking over will then take off the half dead weeds, 
and leave the ground clean and tidy. 
If the soil is very dry, which it certainly is at the 
moment of ripening, the old stools should receive a 
thorough soaking with clear water. This will start 
them into growth, and should be repeated subse¬ 
quently if the drought continues. Even if rain 
comes after the watering, the plants will be in a 
much better condition to make the best use of it, 
and the preliminary watering will be by no means 
wasted labour. It is important that the old plants 
should be given as much assistance as possible, for, 
like the young plants, they have their growth to 
make for next year. 
Destruction of Old Plantations.-In making 
away with old plantations it is very necessary that 
the old stools should be got clean out of the ground, 
and not simply chopped off just below the surface. 
These old stcols, if left in the ground, serve'as a 
refuge for all sorts of vermin, especially wireworms. 
I remember seeing, not many years back, an old 
plantation in which the stools had been chopped off 
in this way. The ground was cropped the next 
year with Carrots, but it was so infested with wire- 
worm that the Carrots were of very little use, for 
the roots were bored and eaten in all directions. 
Yarieties.—Each year sees the introduction of a 
number of new varieties, very few of which, how¬ 
ever, come to stay. That time-honoured favourite, 
Sir Joseph Paxton, is still one of the very best in 
cultivation, its only rival being Royal Sovereign, 
which is now extensively grown both by private and 
market growers. Both these varieties are thoroughly 
to be depended on although Royal Sovereign gains 
somewhat in the matter of earliness, being from four 
to six days earlier than Paxton. Of the new 
varieties Prolific, obtained by Messrs. Jas. Veitch & 
Sons, Ltd., of Chelsea, as the result of a cross be¬ 
tween Empress of India and British Queen, is well 
worthy of attention. It is a remarkably heavy 
bearer, and the deep crimson fruits are of delicious 
flavour, resembling British Queen in this respect, 
but ripening right to the tips in a way that that 
variety very seldom does.— Rex. 
America Wants Country Gentlemen. —We notice 
that an American contemporary advises its readers 
“ to sow ' Country Gentleman ' up to the first of 
July.” The species is getting rare in theold country 
now, but we have not yet attempted to propagate it in 
this way. 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
Anyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should write 
“ Amateurs' Page " on the top of their letters. 
Grass to Name.—Gro. T. T. : The grass you enclose 
is called Stipa pennata, or Feather Grass. It has 
been grown in gardens for many years, for in 
Gerarde's time, as far back as the i6th century, the 
ladies are said to have worn it as feathers. The 
plant is perfectly hardy, and will grow in any 
ordinary garden soil. It may be increased either by 
dividing up the old plants or by sowing seed. If the 
flowering stems are required for decorative purposes 
they should be cut before they have been too much 
knocked about by the weather. 
Asplenium marginatum.— M. : This Asplenium 
is exceedingly difficult to grow, and it is very rare 
indeed that even a respectable looking plant of it is 
to be seen. We are not at all surprised at your 
failure in getting it to grow ; indeed, we should have 
been surprised had it grown in your greenhouse, 
which is too dry and draughty fcr it. Even if you 
get another plant it will be sure to die under such 
conditions. The plant, being a native of tropical 
America, requires stove heat, together with an 
atmosphere as near saturation point as possible, 
and plenty of water at the root. Unless you can 
give it all these it will never grow. 
Cinerarias^— L. K From the description you 
give of your plants, and the conditions under which 
they have been placed, it seems very evident to us 
that it is far too hot and dry for them. Cinerarias 
love a cool, moist place, and do not like a hot, dry 
one. If you can shift the frame to a position under 
the shelter of a north or east wall, the former pre¬ 
ferably, you will find that the plants will do much 
better. If you can stand them on a bottom of clean 
ashes, so much the better. Over-watering may have 
been the ultimate cause of the death of some of the 
plants, but the primary weakness was undoubtedly 
due to the reason we have indicated. 
Lettuce Bolting.— Lettuce : It is not at all an un¬ 
common thing for Lettuces to "run” or " bolt ” in 
the way yours have done, although the " Cabbage ” 
varieties are not any more liable to do it than the 
" Cos ” ; indeed, as far as our experience goes, the 
reverse of this is the case. There are several things 
that will cause wholesale " boltiDg." First, poor or 
old seed—this is a frequent cause. Then there is 
very poor soil. This is not so frequently the cause 
of bolting, because in most gardens the soil is up to, 
at least, a fair standard. The third reason is the 
hot, dry weather, which, more than anything else, 
causes Lettuces to run. It is this which has most 
likely brought about the evil in your case, probably 
assisted by the partial or complete action of the 
other causes mentioned. Probably, the later crops 
of plants raised from the same seed will turn out a 1 
right. 
Watering Flower Beds.— Tyro : If you once 
begin to water your flower beds you will have to 
keep on if the weather continues dry. The water 
draws the roots to the surface, and then, unless the 
supplies are kept up, the roots are burnt up and the 
plants suffer more than they would have done had 
no water at all been given. 
Thrips in a Vinery.— Reader : Sponge the leaves 
with Tobacco water, and persist in the practice until 
the pests have been got rid of. It would be a serious 
matter to vapourise or fumigate the vinery, especially 
as it is attached to your dwelling-house, which makes 
it almost out of the question. 
Celery Fly.— R. : The Celery plants are badly 
attacked with Celery fly (Tephritis onopordinis), 
which causes all those brown blisters on the leaves 
that you speak about. Seeing that all the plants are 
affected, it will not be possible to get rid of the pest 
by picking off the leaves. You should go over them, 
however, and pinch all the blisters between the 
finger and thumb, thereby killing the grubs that are 
eating their way between the epidermides of the leaf. 
You may dust the plants with soot or tobacco 
powder, in order to prevent the mature fly from lay- 
