PACKING RIPE STRAWBERRIES FOR CARRYING.

In these days of steam and express trains, it not unfrequently happens that forced strawberries have to be sent hundreds of miles to the dessert-table, and much of their safe and successful transit depends on the manner in which they are packed. I have been in the habit of sending them from Scotland to London three times weekly, and by the following method of packing they have been received without a bruise: They were packed in square boxes 4 inches deep, divided into four compartments. In the bottom of each division was placed a layer of fine paper-shavings, then a layer of wadding, and over the wadding a sheet of soft, pliable tissue-paper, all firmly pressed down, the one upon the other. On this foundation, with a soft, fresh strawberry-leaf beneath and between each fruit, the strawberries were laid. Over them were placed soft, young vine-leaves, then a sheet of tissue-paper, and then wadding and paper-shavings enough to fill the box as firmly as possible without bruising the fruit, as their safe carriage depends on their being packed sufficiently close and firm to prevent their moving when the box is moved. This is what may be considered an extra-careful way of packing. Generally they are packed in round or square boxes or tins, with just leaves below and above them; and with ordinary usage they carry very well. But fruits sent by rail are often roughly handled; and when fine fruit are produced after months of careful culture, careful packing must be regarded as the gardener's finishingtouch. The boxes in which they are packed should be made of thin deal or tin, in which case two or

three storeys or layers of them may be packed into a stronger box.

PREPARING FRUIT FOR EXHIBITION.

In preparing fruit for exhibition, a great amount of careful and skilful generalship is required. Generally speaking, the grower who has a large number of plants to gather from on an exhibition eve, has a very great advantage over the grower with only a few scores of pots, more so than in the case of any other fruit. For with the most careful thinning, it is well known to every strawberry-forcer that each plant has generally one or two very large fruits, while the remainder are considerably less. Consequently the more numerous the plants ripening fruit at one time, the more numerous will be the monster strawberries. But size is not all on the exhibition-table; colour and flavour are also very important points, which can only be attained. by free exposure to light and dry warm air. If strawberries are grown with the intention of their being prize-takers, a smaller number of fruit should be allowed to each plant. Some may require being retarded in cooler houses so as to keep back the first and largest berries; others may require a contrary treatment to bring them forward to match the retarded ones.

Most growers have their own way of setting up or dishing for exhibition. The most effective dish of strawberries I ever remember of were laid singly in a flat square basket, filled nearly to the top with wadding and covered with tissue-paper. On this surface the strawberries were laid with a small space between each. Splendid fruits of any description can never

have too much of each fruit seen, and in this way the eye takes in more of the individual fruits than when dished in the usual way in a semi-globular form, the fruit laid in circles with a strawberry-leaf between each, the outer row of fruits being the least and those in the centre of the basket the largest.

VARIETIES FOR FORCING.

It is not always easy to pronounce dogmatically on the varieties that are best for forcing; I have experimented with scores of sorts, and came to the conclusion that there are not very many which possess all the qualities which fit them for forcing, and early forcing in particular. Keen's Seedling was till recently more extensively grown than any other sort, and more generally accounted the best to grow for a general crop. It, however, in some localities has proved a failure; but so far as I am aware this is the exception, not the rule. Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury is now very extensively used. It is prolific and of good quality. Black Prince is a most prolific bearer, and for very early forcing is decidedly the most certain, from its free blooming and setting qualities. I can confidently recommend for the earliest cropsi.e., to ripen in early part of March-Black Prince, Underhill's Sir Harry, Keen's Seedling, Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury, and La Grosse Sucrée to succeed it. Prince of Wales is an excellent second or rather third early in the order of these three. For the latest crops nothing can equal in flavour the old British Queen; but it is not very prolific, and does not succeed well in many soils. Sir Charles Napier forces. well, is large and showy, but rather acid. President

is an excellent strawberry, forces well and sets remarkably free. La Marguerite and Victoria are also very showy varieties. But had I to force many thousands of plants, I would still cling to the old favourites namely, Black Prince, Keen's Seedling, and Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury, the latter two predominating. Then for late sorts nothing can be mere satisfactory than Sir Charles Napier, President, and, where it does well, British Queen. Those who may fancy a few very large fruits should grow Dr Hogg and James Veitch, but their size is about all the good quality they possess. I have, however, proved that localities, or rather soils, influence strawberries very much, some succeeding where others fail, and vice versa.

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THE CUCUMBER.

It

THE cucumber (Cucumis sativa) is said by some horticultural writers to be a native of the East Indies. has, however, been cultivated and esteemed in Africa from a very early period; and in the complaint of the Israelites to Moses in the wilderness, they singularly enough associated their appreciation of the cucumber with the fish, which they "freely" ate in Egypt. Fish and cucumbers are now much appreciated together. The very earliest records of English horticulture embrace the cucumber, and in Edward III.'s time it was common, but was afterwards comparatively neglected till the time of Henry VIII.; and it was the middle of the seventeenth century before its cultivation became general. In England it is very much more esteemed by the mass of the population than in Scotland. some parts of Bedfordshire-Sandy, for instance-it is cultivated in the open air by thousand of bushels, and supplied to pickle-manufacturers for pickling.

In

At certain seasons of the year the cucumber is of the easiest possible cultivation, requiring next to no attention or skill. This applies to the summer months. But to supply cucumbers every day from November