==Strawberry==

==Fragaria==

Probably the first thought will be that the Strawberry is a fruit, and that the consideration of its treatment is out of place in a series of articles on the culture of vegetables.  The answer is that the plant forms an essential feature in every good Kitchen Garden, and the general routine of work has to be arranged with due regard to this crop, so that we need make no apology for alluding to it here.

==When to Plant.==—­The Strawberry is the most certain of all our hardy fruits, and is much valued both for eating fresh as a summer luxury and as a preserve for winter use.  Although it deserves the best of cultivation, its demands are few, for under the poorest system of management it is often extremely prolific, and not unseldom the most profitable crop in the garden.  We have choice of seeds, divisions, and runners in making a plantation of Strawberries.  The universal way is the best way, and it consists in planting rooted runners of named sorts in an open sunny spot in well-prepared ground any time during spring or autumn, when fresh and good runners are obtainable; but late planting is undesirable, for when the plants have not time to establish themselves before winter sets in many are lost.  If, therefore, the planting cannot be accomplished at the latest by the beginning of October, it is better to defer the task until the spring.  Plants put in at the latter time should have the flower-stems removed, and will then yield a heavy crop in the succeeding season.

==Treatment of Soil.==—­The best soil for Strawberries is a rich, moist, sandy loam, but a heavy soil will answer perfectly if it is well prepared.  The ground should be trenched and liberally enriched with rotten manure placed between the top and bottom spits, where the plants will reach it when they are most in need.  In a new soil that is rather stiff it will be advisable, when the trenching has been completed, to put down the line and cut shallow trenches, which should be filled with any rather fine kindly stuff that may be at hand, such as old hot-bed soil, leaf-mould, or a mixture of material turned out of pots, with some good decayed manure.  In this the young plants will root freely and quickly without becoming gross, for they should attain a certain degree of vigour; but an excessive leaf growth may result in losses during winter, and a small crop of fruit in the following year.  Well-cultivated soils need no such special preparation, but in any case a good digging and a liberal manuring are absolutely necessary.  And here it may be well to state that after the plants have obtained a firm hold on the soil it matters not how hard the ground becomes.  The practice of some growers in running a plough lightly between the rows either for a mulch, or to give the plants the full benefit of rain, does not in the least degree upset this conclusion, for this only creates a loose and friable surface, and the operation is so managed that the soil near the roots remains undisturbed.  It may be accepted as a secret of successful Strawberry culture that the bed should be firm and compact, and, in forcing, this principle is so far recognised that the soil is positively rammed into the pots.