JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  4,  1898. 
80 
It  may  not  always  be  possible  to  remake  the  whole  of  the  border 
at  one  time.  Take  the  old  soil  out  as  far  as  the  new  border  is  to  go 
to  the  depth  of  3  feet.  If  there  is  any  doubt  as  to  waterlogging  the 
bottom  must  be  drained,  of  course,  but  often  much  unnecessary 
trouble  is  taken  in  this  matter.  In  a  naturally  well  drained  station 
nothing  more  than  about  6  inches  of  roughly  broken  stone  or  brick 
is  required  as  a  base.  Cover  this  with  a  little  straw  litter  to 
prevent  the  finest  parts  of  the  soil  silting  down  into  the  drainage,  and 
fill  up  with  the  soil,  ramming  it  as  hard  and  firm  as  possible ;  two 
or  three  men  ramming  and  one  filling  in,  unless  the  soil  has  to  be 
wheeled  very  far.  It  is  impossible,  in  short,  to  have  the  border  too 
firm.  Where  there  is  a  deficiency  of  lime  in  the  soil,  a  little  powdered 
quicklime  must  be  mixed  with  it.  Old  mortar  rubbish  is  an  excellent 
addition,  especially  as  a  mechanical  agent  in  keeping  the  soil  open. 
The  size  of  the  trees  depends  of  course  upon  how  much  can  be 
spent  upon  them,  but  most  of  the  principal  nurserymen  can  supply 
trees  trained  with  large  heads,  5  feet  or  6  feet  across,  and  these  are 
the  best  to  procure.  Only  the  unripened  points  of  the  shoot  need  be 
cut  off  at  planting  time,  and  the  trees  must  be  got  in  as  early  as 
possible  before  the  leaf  falls.  Large  trees  shifted  last  October  in 
full  foliage,  many  of  them  with  the  fruit  only  just  gathered,  have 
this  season  finished  splendid  crops  of  fine  fruit,  notwithstanding 
they  were  moved  from  a  late  to  an  early  house.  All  that  is  necessary 
is  careful  lifting  and  replanting,  with  judicious  watering  afterwards. 
The  syringe  must  be  freely  plied  about  the  growths,  and  a  light 
shade  provided  in  very  bright  weather  until  the  foliage  falls. 
Smaller  trees  will  not  of  course  be  expected  to  fruit  the  first 
season,  and  the  aim  of  the  grower  must  be  to  obtain  a  very  free 
growth,  to  lay  this  in  at  its  full  length,  including  any  laterals  that 
room  can  be  found  for  without  crowding,  and  by  full  exposure  of 
the  foliage  to  sun  and  air  to  insure  a  free  set  of  good  fruit  the 
ensuing  season.  Trees  at  all  inclined  to  be  too  strong  in  growth 
must  be  allowed  to  carry  a  heavy  crop.  It  will  do  more  towards 
bringing  them  into  a  healthy,  free  bearing  condition  than  anything 
else,  and  is  far  preferable  to  root-pruning.  To  take  all  the  fruit  from 
strong,  healthy  young  trees,  thereby  setting  up  an  unnaturally  strong 
growth,  to  further  this  by  too  free  use  of  the  knife  in  the  earlier 
stages,  and  then  to  try  and  set  the  matter  right  by  root-pruning,  is 
about  as  ridiculous  a  piece  of  business  as  can  well  be  imagined,  and 
yet  this  is  just  what  is  practised  in  many  otherwise  well-ordered 
gardens. 
Pruning  in  theory  consists  in  simply  cutting  away  in  early  autumn 
the  wood  that  has  fruited,  another  shoot  having  been  brought  up  to 
take  its  place.  But,  like  every  other  detail  of  culture,  this  cannot 
always  be  carried  out  to  the  letter,  nor  is  it  advisable.  When  the  trees 
start  in  the  sprin?,  disbudding  of  the  shoots  takes  place,  and  it  is  well 
to  have  enough  shoots  ip  reserve,  as  some,  instead  of  elongating,  simply 
make  short  side  spurs.  An  orthodox  pruner  would  cut  these  spurs  out, 
but  in  many  cases  they  are  very  useful,  especially  in  young  trees, 
where  it  may  be  difficult  to  secure  a  full  crop  of  fruit,  these  small  spurs 
being  in  almost  every  case  closely  studded  with  fruit  buds. 
Endeavour  in  all  cases  to  secure  good  shoots  as  near  the  base  of  the 
old  wood  as  possible,  this  insuring  a  well-furnished  tree.  Stop  the  end 
of  the  bearing  shoot,  so  that  it  does  not  crowd  other  wood,  and  while 
laying  in  a  sufficiency  of  young  shoots  everywhere,  avoid  crowding,  as 
one  fully  developed  growth  is  far  better  than  a  dozen  gross  and  ill- 
ripened  ones  for  fruit  producing.  Pruniug  should  follow  immediately 
the  crop  of  fruit  is  removed,  this  allowing  sun  and  air  to  leach  the 
chosen  shoots  more  freely.  As  to  the  class  of  wood  required  for 
bearing,  varieties  will  be  found  to  differ,  and  as  a  case  in  point,  the  fine 
new  Nectarine  Early  Rivers  may  be  mentioned.  This  will  bear  fruit 
freely  upon  wood  that  most  growers  would  c  msider  far  too  strong  ; 
and  were  such  wood  produced  on  some  of  the  early  Peaches  as 
A  aterloo,  the  probability  is  that  bud-dropping  would  be  so  much  in 
evidence,  that  nothing  like  a  crop  would  follow. 
Many  other  instances  of  vagaiies  of  certain  varieties  may  be  given 
did  space  permit.  The  spurs  mentioned  above  should  be  freely  left 
on  all  kinds  given  to  bud-dropping.  They  will  often  mean  the 
saving  of  a  crop,  and  taking  up  as  they  do  so  little  room,  do  no 
harm  by  crowding  other  wood.  It  will  be  found  that  the  trees  which 
drop  the  fewer  buds  are  they  that  have  well  ripened  but  not  too 
large  growths,  that  owing  to  having  been  kept  free  of  insects  have 
properly  developed  buds,  and  are  not  allowed  to  suffer  from 
want  of  water  in  winter.  Despite  all  that  has  been  written  and  said 
to  the  contrary,  lack  of  root  moisture  in  winter  is  a  fruitful  cause  of 
bud-dropping  in  Peaches  and  Nectarines. — II.  R.  Richards. 
EXPERIENCE  WITH  STRAWBERRIES. 
The  first  article  in  your  issue  of  July  21st  is  very  interesting,  and, 
as  usual,  apropos  and  up  to  date.  The  writer  asks  others  to  record 
their  experience  of  Strawberry  culture  during  the  past  year,  and  I  do 
so  the  more  readily  because  some  months  ago  I  sent  you  a  paragraph 
or  two  on  some  experiments  I  was  making,  with  a  promise  to  report 
on  the  results. 
My  runners  taken  from  barren  crowns  were  kept  quite  apart  from 
those  obtained  from  the  fertile  plants,  and  I  have  now  discovered  for 
myself  what  I  was  unable  to  learn  from  others— viz.,  that  it  is  of  no 
consequence  which  we  use  for  propagation,  except,  indeed,  that  barren 
plants  give  the  earlier  and  stronger  runners.  Both  sorts  have  this  year 
blossomed  equally  well  and  borne  equally  fine  fruit.  But  better  than 
either  have  been  the  plants  made  by  splitting  up  the  old  roots  into 
single  crowns. 
I  may  add  that  my  plants  were  of  two  kinds  only — viz.,  Royal 
Sovereign  and  Laxton’s  Latest  of  All.  I  have  also  begun  similar 
experiments  with  Veitch’s  Perfection. — T.  W.  B. 
Mr.  H.  Richards’  remarks  on  Strawberry  culture  on  page  39 
will  be  of  much  interest  to  readers  of  your  valuable  Journal  who 
are  thinking  of  investing  in  new  varieties  for  the  coming  season, 
there  being  a  greater  demand  year  by  year  for  this  luscious  fruit. 
Well-dug  and  heavily  manured  ground  will  give-  good  results  if  the 
plants  are  supplied  with  liquid  manure,  obtained  from  the  farmyard, 
during  the  autumn  and  spring  months,  and  the  plantations  not 
allowed  1o  be  overrun  with  surplus  runners,  or  weeds,  keeping  the 
surface  soil  well  stirred  by  the  use  of  the  fork. 
Early  runners  must  be  obtained  in  the  first  place  to  insure 
health  and  strength,  which  constitute  a  good  plant;  where  room  is 
at  command  it  will  be  found  most  profitable  to  plant  out  young 
runners  from  3-inch  pots,  with  the  sole  object  of  obtaining  strong 
early  plants  for  forcing  or  general  planting,  it  being  well  understood 
that  a  good  foundation  must  be  laid  for  profitable  Strawberry  growing. 
Plants  grown  expressly  for  producing  runners  give  sood  returns  when 
planted  1  foot  apart  each  way,  where  room  is  limited,  as  it  is  with 
most  of  us  who  have  to  keep  every  nook  and  corner  filled  to  supply  a 
large  establishment. 
An  early  start  may  be  made  by  inserting  early  runners  in  small 
pots,  and  if  these  are  kept  close  in  a  cold  frame  they  will  commence 
rooting  freely  after  a  few  days.  This  plan  will  be  found  to  answer 
well  with  growers  who  are  unable  to  plant  out  expressly  for  obtaining 
runners,  and  have  to  wait  till  the  fruit  is  gathered  and  nets  removed. 
As  regards  distance  between  the  rows  for  planting  main  crops,  much 
depends  on  the  variety  chosen.  With  me  3  feet  apart  is  not  too  much 
lor  Royal  Sovereign,  while  others  only  require  2  feet  and  18  inches,  or 
1  foot  from  plant  to  plant.  The  soil  I  have  to  contend  with  is  sandy 
loam,  sand  predominating,  resting  on  a  subsoil  of  iron  brash,  which 
becomes  very  hot  and  dry  during  the  summer  months,  making  Straw¬ 
berry  growing  difficult. 
The  variety  I  have  found  to  succeed  the  best  is  the  now  well-tried 
Royal  Sovereign,  which  grows  freely,  and  produces  heavy  crops  of 
Iruit  of  excellent  flavour.  Plants  are  robust  and  prolific  after  three 
\  ears’  planting.  James  Yeitch  is  a  free  grower  and  cropper,  of  good 
flavour,  single  fruits  often  weighing  between  2  and  3  ozs.  Monarch 
proved  a  fair  cropper  the  first  year  after  planting,  but  the  second 
year  all  the  plants  have  been  blind.  Is  this  a  general  complaint  with 
growers  of  this  variety  ?  I  am  discarding  it  for  others  more  favour¬ 
able.  L°ader  has  proved  a  shy  grower  ;  fruiting  qualities  medium; 
flavour  second-rate. 
Sensation  is  robust  in  habit,  and  prolific,  but  poor  in  flavour. 
Waterloo  is  a  weak  grower,  medium  cropper,  but  the  fruit  is  grand 
in  colour  and  flavour.  Noble  is  a  good  grower  and  bearer,  of  moderate 
flavour  only.  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  President,  and  Vicomtesse  Hericart 
<le  Thury  are  amongst  the  older  varieties  which  have  given  good 
results.  After  growing  Stevens’  Wonder  two  years,  and  obtaining 
no  fruit,  it  has  been  discarded.  How  does  this  variety  behave  with 
t  e  majority  of  growers?  Veitch’s  Perfection  is  doing  well  with  me 
this  season,  growth  medium,  and  flavour  all  that  could  be  desired. 
I  axton’s  Latest  of  All,  planted  out  one  foot  apart  each  way,  has, 
though  of  weak  growth,  proved  a  good  cropper  and  the  fruits  well 
