STRAWBERRY. The botanical characters of the strawberry have been given in the NAT. HIST. Dry. Of the cultivated strawberry, the varieties are almost endless, and nearly every season something new is produced. In the Fruit Catalogue of the London Horticultural Society, upwards of sixty varieties as worth cultivating, and there are as many, or perhaps more, which are reckoned worthless.
Strawberries may be propagated either by means of their suckers or runners, or by sowing seed. The young plants will generally bear the year after they have been planted or sown. In order to obtain the fruit in perfection, they should be planted where they have access to abundance of light and air. Plants grown from runners are best for new beds, and should be planted out in March, in beds with three or four rows, leaving an alley between each bed. The alleys should be wide, the beds kept clear from weeds, and the runners cut at least three times in the season. In the autumn the rows should be dug between, and in the spring some straw or dung should be laid between the rows. If the manure produces too luxuriant a growth of the plants, it should not be employed. The rows of the beds should be two feet apart, the plants eighteen inches asunder, and the alleys three feet wide between each bed. The duration of the plants is about three
years. As they are dicecious. care should be taken that there are male plants in the bed in the proportion of about one to ten. The wood strawberry is best produced from seed, which should be sown as soon as it is obtained from the fruit, and should be planted in beds in March, in the same way as the others. The alpine strawberry is best grown from seeds, which should not be sown till the spring, and may be planted in July or August, in rows at the back of hedges or walls, in a rich or moist soil. The duration of these and of the last seldom exceeds two years.
Strawberries, when ripe, may be eaten in almost any quantity with out injury. They are frequently eaten mixed with sugar and cream, or,wine. NVIsen ripe and well grown, they hardly require such additions; but wren their sugar is deficient, this ingredient may be safely added; and the addition of wine under these circumstances should be preferred t I cream, as the latter is very liable to disagree with disordered stomachs.