JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  3,  1899. 
9-6 
man's  gardener.  Our  young  man-  may  find  himself  in  a  somewhat 
■elevated  position,  in  which  it  requires  all  his  judgment  to  balance 
himself.  Hitherto  he  has  been  hail  fellow  well  met,  with  those  about 
Rim,  but  now  he  has  to  take  the  reins  of  government.  lie  can  do  it 
and  retain  his  own  self-respact,  while  he  at  the  same  time  commands 
that  of  others,  but  the  elevation  has  been  too  much  for  many  a  young 
rgardener;  they  failed  to  keep  the  balance  level,  or  to  use  a  true 
gardener’s  phrase,  “  they  got  too  big  for  the  place.”  It  is  a  great 
mistake,  and  therein  lies  a  lesson  which  every  journeyman  should  not 
fail  to  learn.  It  is  well  for  every  young  gardener  on  taking  over  his 
first  charge  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of  the  newly  elected 
•candidate  when  his  (urn  comes  to  make  his  maiden  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  knows  that  a  great  deal  depends  on  it ;  the 
old  parliamentary  hands  are  taking  stock  of  him,  the  reporters  are 
grabbing  every  word  that  flows  from  his  lips,  the  honourable  gentlemen 
•on  the  opposition  are  waiting  to  pull  him  to  pieces,  and  that  effort 
may  mean  a  successful  career  as  a  statesman  or— obscurity.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  newly  made  head  gardener.  He  should  think  not  only 
of  himself  and  personal  interests,  but  of  the  good  men  who  have 
been  iris  teachers.  They  will  glory  in  his  success,  and  speak  proudly 
of  him  as  “one  of  my  young  men,”  or  be  sorrowful  at  his^failure. 
Yes !  a  gardener’s  most  onerous  undertaking  is  invariably  his  first 
charge. — G.  II.  H. 
STRAWBERRIES  IN  1899. 
Now  that  the  Strawberry  season  is  over  it  is  a  good  thing  that  we 
compare  notes  on  our  experiences.  There  is  much  to  be  learnt  in  this 
way  ;  only  a  variety  of  reasons  keeps  us  from  doing  it,  I  suppose. 
■One  great,  hindrance,  I  take  it,  is  that  after  a  man  has  had  a  long  tiring 
day  in  the  garden,  he  does  not  feel  disposed  to  take  the  pen.  A 
certain  amount  of  laziness,  quite  excusable,  specially  if  years  are 
creeping  upon  us,  makes  us  more  disposed  to  sit  down  quietly  with  a 
book  or  paper,  or  dawdle  aimlessly  about  doing  nothing — “recreating.” 
Aga’n,  humble  minded  growers  like  myself  may  say  to  themselves, 
■“  What  does  it  matter  what  my  little  experience  is  ?  It  is  the  large 
growers  that  ought  to  give  their  practices,  and  we  little  people  can 
then  benefit  by  them.”  Still,  even  a  small  grower  may  do  something 
to  help  if  he  only  gives  a  list  of  those  varieties  of  Strawberries  which 
•do  well  with  him  generally,  taking  into  account  his  soil,  efimate, 
.position,  and  requirements.  Because,  whatever  polace  a  man  has, 
whatever  may  be  his  surroundings,  he  has  to  grow  Strawberries  ;  that 
fact  he  cannot  get  away  from,  and  if  he  has  not  the  ideal  Strawberry 
■soil  to  grow  them  on,  he  has  to  grow  them  as  best  he  can  in  the  soil 
he  has. 
So  accommodating,  however,  is  the  Strawberry  plant  that  it  will 
•give  some  sort  of  results,  and  often  very  good  results,  from  soils  which 
are  by  no  mcana  those  which  a  grower  would  practically  choose  ;  and 
also,  if  a  grower  determines  to  do  his  best,  and  he  perseveres  with 
■energy  and  determination,  and  tries  first  one  way  of  growing  them 
and  then  another,  and  then  one  variety  after  another,  a  fair  measure  of 
success  will  be  his  reward. 
The  ileal  Strawberry  soil,  I  suppose,  is  a  good  brown  holding 
loam,  with  a  cool  subsoil.  Well,  mine  is  not  that,  but  a  rather  thin 
one  generally,  with  a  dry  rocky  bottom,  though,  standing  as  we  do  on 
the  edge  of  what  geologists  ca'l  a  “fault,”  we  get  a  mixture  taking  the 
garden  as  a  whole,  and  as  I  go  on  the  three-year  system  I  have  a  very 
mixed  experience  before  I  have  got  round  the  garden.  What  varieties, 
then,  do  well  with  you  ?  The  variety  which  has  done  best  the  longest 
as  President;  but  I  am  beginning  to  see  that  even  this  constant  and 
fruitful  sort  is  deterorating,  “tiring,”  as  we  call  it,  “of  the  land,” 
from  a  yearly  propagation  from  the  same  plants,  and  I  shall  have  to 
get  in  a  fresh  stock  from  some  friend  whom  I  can  trust  to  set  me  up 
with  the  true  variety. 
But  to  begin  at  the  beginning,  and  this  year  only,  my  first  fruits 
were  picked  from  Leader.  My  neighbour,  Mr.  A.  H.  Pearsou,  asks 
who  will  give  a  good  word  to  Leader;  well,  I  will  for  one  up  to  now, 
and  so  satisfied  am  1  with  it  that  I  am  extending  my  plantation. 
Then,  of  course,  Royal  Sovereign  must  be  included  in  every  collection, 
either  for  market  or  for  private  family  use.  That  is  my  judgment, 
and  I  cannot  find  words  strong  enough  to  press  its  claims  to  first 
place  everywhere.  President  I  have  already  mentioned  favourably. 
Scarlet  Queen  has  rather  disappointed  me  this  year,  though  the  last 
two  it  was  all  that  could  be  desired.  John  Ruskin  has  goue  down  in 
my  favour,  though  for  one  or  two  seasons  it  stood  high,  but  latterly  it 
has  shown  on  two  and  three-year-old  p'ants  a  sad  tendency  t>  go 
“blind.’  In  one  case  75  per  cent,  of  the  plants  were  absolutely 
flowerless,  otherwise  it  is  a  splendid  cropper,  and  a  fine  jam  Straw¬ 
berry.  King  of  the  Earlies,  with  our  old  friend  Black  Prince,  have 
given  me  large  pickings  for  jam'  purposes ;  they  are  too  small  for 
table,  except  a  few  fruits  now  and  then  in  an  early  dish. 
James  Veitch,  at  one  time  a  great  favourite,  will  have  to  go;  one 
nr  two  large  fruits  here  and  there  do  not  pay  for  the  land.  Where 
James  Veitch  does  well  it  is  immense.  Monarch  will  take  its  place, 
and  though  it  has  the  bad  habit  of  going  blind  on  plants  here  and 
there  in  the  rows,  it  is  a  splendid  cropper  of  fine  and  well-flavoured 
fruit.  This  (so  I  think),  writh  Royal  Sovereign,  must  be  included  in 
good  eol'eefions.  In  the  Allan  series  of  Strawberries  I  have  only  a 
good  word  for  Gunton  Park,  which  has  given  me  some  very  acceptable 
dishes  this  season,  and  will  go  on  in  our  collection,  whilst  Lord 
Suffitld  will  go  out.  With  me  this  variety  neither  grows  well  nor 
fruits  well.  I  had  a  few  runners  given  me  last  year  of  that  at  one 
time  much-talked-of  variety  Sir  Harry,  but  it  will  have  to  go  out  of 
my  list;  its  cropping  is  small,  and  its  flavour  and  colour  not  inviting. 
One  good  friend  of  the  Journal,  “  N.  N.,”  sent  me  from  the  north 
quite  a  large  batch  of  runners  last  year  of  the  Strawberry  MacMahon, 
which  he  says  is  growm  extensively  in  fields  for  market  purposes  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Alnwick,  and  I  am  so  well  pleased  with  its 
productiveness  that  I  shall  plant  it  in  quantity.  Before  I  close  I 
must  not  forget  to  say  a  very  good  word  for  Newton  Seedling.  It  is 
a  splendid  cropper,  comes  in  after  Royal  Sovereign  and  President  and 
the  main  crop  varieties,  is  of  bright  colour,  and  though  not  of  high 
sweet  flavour,  is  yet  very  useful  for  table,  and  as  a  jam  assistant  not 
to  be  beaten. 
It  will  be  seen  that  my  selection  deals  with  those  varieties  which 
are  useful  as  abundant  bearers,  rather  than  with  the  higher  class 
table  sorts,  as  British  Queen,  Dr.  Hogg,  and  that  strain.  Sensational 
size  and  conspicuous  quality  I  can  do  without,  but  quantity  I  must 
have,  and  so  I  shall  go  on  planting  those  which  fill  my  baskets  rather 
than  those  which  give  a  few  striking  fruits,  being  on  the  look  out, 
year  by  year,  for  every  new  sort  which  satisfies  my  requirements  or 
my  soil. 
I  had  written  thus  far  before  the  Journal  of  this  week  (July  27th) 
arrived.  I  wras  immediately  taken  by  the  article  by  Mr.  Strugnell  of 
Roo  l  Ashton,  for  whose  practical  ideas,  a’ ways  so  well  and  temperately 
set  firth,  I  have  the  pratest  admiration  and  confidence  in.  I  find 
that  he  has  not  the  grod  word  for  Rcyal  Sovereign  that  I  have,  and  I 
hasten  to  say  that  I  write  as  I  lnve  pvoved,  on  my  soil  only,  though 
here,  in  the  centre  cf  the  Midlands,  there  is  quite  a  consensus  of 
opinion  in  its  favour,  one  market  gardening  fr  end  of  mine  saying, 
“  Grow  Sovereign,  if  you  only  grow7  one  variety,  and  stick  to  it.” 
I  endorse  one  statement  of  Mr.  Strugnell’s  entirely,  indeed  it  is  the 
key  that  unlocks  and  explains  all  the  different  judgments  of  gardeners 
on  many  things  besides  Strawberry  cultivation.  “  Soil  plays  such  an 
important  part  in  Strawberry  growing  tl  at  it  is  not  always  safe  to 
plant  largely  until  it  is  known  whether  the  ground  is  really  suited  to 
any  particular  sort.”  That  is  exactly  my  opinion,  and  that  is  what 
every  gardener  has  to  prove  for  hims  If,  and  therefore  it  is  wise  for 
him  to  go  on  proving  year  by  year  all  the  best  sorts,  and  retaining 
only  those  which  do  well  on  his  particular  S'  il. 
On  the  question  of  barr.  n  Strawberry  runners  I  do  not  express  an 
opinion,  except  that  my  expeiierce  is  that  it  is  safest  to  take  runners 
from  fertile  plants,  but  1  am  qu  te  sure  that  Mr.  A.  H.  Pearson  can 
hold  his  own  without  aay  assistance  from  me.  I  may  say  that  there 
is  a  difference  between  taking  runners  from  the  “rogues”  which  will 
come  occasionally  in  any  plantation  of  Strawberries,  and  ordinary 
flowerless  plants  that  occur  now  aDd  then  in  some  varieties.  It  is  a 
subject  that  deserves  ventilation,  and  the  opinions  of  such  observers  as 
“  the  writer  of  the  note”  and  Mr.  R.  M’lntodi  are  welcome  and  much 
appreciated. — N.  H.  P. 
Strawberry  Latest  of  All. 
I  W'AS  pleased  to  see  Mr.  Strugnell’s  appreciative  notice  of  this 
variety.  As  he  says,  the  crop  it  carries  is  marvellous,  and  I  know  of 
no  other  sort  that  fruits  for  so  many  weeks  on  end.  It  was  ready 
here  the  same  time  as  Monarch,  Leader,  and  other  second  early  ones, 
yet  I  am  still — July  27th — taking  dishes  of  it  daily.  The  quicker  the 
season  as  regards  ripening  the  worse  for  such  varieties  as  Latest  of  All 
that  do  not  ripen  quite  to  the  point.  I  have  a  couple  of  rows  in  a 
cool  moist  position,  and  here  the  fruit  ripens  much  more  perfectly  than 
in  the  open  beds,  where  wre  would  naturally  expect  it  to  do  so.  Like 
many  other  growers,  Mr.  Strugnell  has  found  Dr.  Hogg  wanting,  but 
here  i  could  not  do  without  it.  On  my  heavy  soil  it  is  the  finest 
flavoured  Strawberry  I  have,  and  as  an  annual  fruits  grandly,  though  I 
must  say  not  so  fr  ely  as  Latest  of  All.  But  one  berry  of  Dr.  Hogg  is 
worth  half  a  dozen  of  any  other  one  I  grow.  Royal  Sovereign  does  well 
here,  and  for  home  use  1  prefer  it  to  Sir  J.  Paxton,  as  it  is  earlier  and 
much  larger,  but  the  firm  flesh  of  the  latter  fits  it  much  better  for 
travelling. 
Heavy  Strawberries. 
In  reply  to  the  Editorial  note  on  page  71,  I  have  this  season 
gathered  Royal  Sovereign  that  weighed  from  If  oz  to  2k  oz?.,  and 
some  I  think  were  heavier  than  this.  The  largest  berries  were  taken 
from  a  bed  in  the  open  from  plants  in  thtir  first  year — i.e.,  planted 
July,  1898,  in  the  early  border.  The  first  flowers  were  blackened  by 
frost,  and  the  second  fruits  were  not  so  large.  —  H.  Richards, 
Coldham  Hall. 
