52 
THE ELORIST’S JOURNAL. 
requisite, make a hot-bed the same as for cucumbers, but not 
quite so powerful, and as soon as the rank steam of the dung is 
off, lay some old rotten dung over the bed, to keep down the 
heat; when this becomes steady at about 75 degrees, put the 
plants into the frame as closely as possible, filling up between 
the pots with earth ; they must have air given to them every 
day, according to the weather, and the bed must be kept at a 
steady heat. If it should become too hot, the pots must im¬ 
mediately be lifted, to prevent the roots being burned ; and if 
the heat subsides too much, a fresh lining must be given. This 
bed will bring the plants into flower by the beginning of March, 
by which time the heat will be declining; therefore a fresh bed 
must be prepared on which to place the plants, so that they 
receive no check for want of heat; this second bed need not be 
so strong as the first, but on the hot dung a layer of cow-dung 
should be placed, about an inch and a half thick, which will 
help to keep down the strong heat, and prevent the roots of the 
plants from being scorched: having levelled the dung, place on 
it a layer of about two inches in thickness of loamy soil, which 
may remain a day or two to warm, and the plants may then be 
taken out of the first bed, and carefully turned out of the pots 
into the second, performing the operation carefully, so as not to 
disturb the roots. The plants may be placed at about a foot 
apart, and the spaces between them filled with the same kind 
of soil similarly warmed. 
By moving the plants out of the pots into the soil, it causes 
them to flower stronger. They must have air and water, the 
same as for the plants in the stove, and if this is well attended 
to, there will be a good crop of fruit about April, which is 
about two months before they are ripe out of doors. 
Retarding. — In order to retard the fruit, so as to supply 
the table late in the season, the plants may be planted in a 
shady place in the garden, and when the first flowers appear 
they should be plucked: if the weather is dry, water them well, 
and they will send out fresh trusses of flowers, and produce a 
late crop of fruit; but the quality of the fruit will, however, be 
far inferior to that which ripens in its proper season. When 
the Alpine strawberry is in cultivation, this need not be at¬ 
tended to, as they will continue to produce fruit till late in the 
season. 
In rearing strawberries from seed, the following process 
L an be adopted, by those who aim at the production of new 
