Beds

"Never have more than three rows in a bed. Let them be eighteen inches apart, and the plants twelve inches apart in the rows; or two feet by eighteen inches, according to the richness of the soil, and vigorous growth of the variety. The pines require more room than the scarlets.

"Strawberries generally, but especially Myatt's pine, succeed best upon a bank facing the south-west.

'•' The old Hautboy strawberry bears the male and female flowers on different roots. The mode of planting is this: mark the male plant, the sterile, and plant the lines in quincunx thus the middle roots marked X to be the male plants, and the others the female. If this rule is observed, you will never fail to have abundance of fruit. The only time to mark the males is when they are in blossom; and every gardener should know them, and keep them apart in his nursery, to take young ones from." - Gard. Chron.

Dr. Lindley has these justly discriminating observations on the frequent renewal of the beds: -

"With regard to the opinion that a fresh plantation of strawberries should be made every year, to be destroyed after having once born fruit, and that the finest crops can only be obtained by this method, there are some doubts. Mr. Keene, the fortunate raiser of the seedling which bears his name, and an extensive cultivator, had a tolerable crop the first year, an excellent one the second, and after the third year he destroyed the plantation. Those called Pine Strawberries, such as the Old Pine, Keene's Seedling, Elton, etc, will bear well in the same situation for many years, if properly managed.

"That scarlets are best when the plantations are frequently renewed, is generally admitted ; and there are some large varieties which appear to have more or less of the Chili in their constitution, as Myatt's Seedlings, which require that runners be early established, for bearing in the following season, as the old plants are apt to die off. As fruit can be obtained earlier in the season from plants that have not previously borne, it is advisable to renew some portion every year; but the propriety of annually destroying the whole, depends very much on circumstances, and therefore the method cannot be recommended except in particular cases."- Gard. Chron.

The surface of the soil should be co- , vered with straw, or the mowings of grass-plots, during the bearing season, to preserve moisture to the roots of the plants, and to keep the fruit from being dirt-splashed.

To promote an early produce of fruit, it is also suggested by Mr. G. L. Smartt, of Enlield,-that " there should be fixed on each side of the rows of strawberries, just before they come into blossom, feather-edged boards, at an angle of 50° or 55°. This may be effected by nailing two narrow slips of wood to each board, and pushing them into the ground. The boards should be painted black. This plan makes two or three weeks dilference in the ripening of the fruit; but glass or an oiled paper frame being placed on the top, makes a greater difference still, and prevents any of the fruit from being trod upon, or eaten by vermin. This plan at first sight may appear to be an expensive one, but it is not so; any old boards will answer the purpose. I have bought old feather-edged boards at one half-penny per foot; and as they are only used in summer, they last for many years. The expense is saved in the first year; for the wood, although painted on each side with a coat of invisible green, costs only about three-halfpence the foot, while the increase of fruit in quantity, as well as in quality, quite compensates for the outlay."-Gard. Chron.