104 Strawberry-Growing 



inders may be made in different sizes to fit plants of dif- 

 ferent ages; some are made fifteen inches in diameter. 

 Two pieces of strip iron are attached to opposite sides of 

 the cylinder and extend upward about six inches, joining 

 in the center to a handle of wrought iron about three feet 

 long, with a wooden cross piece at the top. The cutter 

 is plunged down over the plant ; a single stroke severs all 

 runners if the cutting edge is kept sharp. Occasionally 

 the dropper is made in a semicircle. 



Other types of runner-cutters are used occasionally. 

 A brush scythe, twelve to fourteen inches long and hanging 

 straight, is used somewhat in the Puget Sound district. 

 It clips off the outer leaves as well as the runners. There 

 are several tools that have iron fingers that automatically 

 gather up the runners and draw them under knives ; these 

 have not proved practical. C. S. Pratt of Reading, 

 Massachusetts, uses two wheels with knife edges, spaced 

 fourteen inches apart on an axle. The edges are drilled 

 on so that they can be taken off and sharpened. This is 

 pushed over the hill or hedge-row, and cuts off runners on 

 two sides about seven inches from the center of the plant. 

 Then it is used in the opposite direction and cuts the run- 

 ners on the other two sides. It weighs sixty pounds, so 

 that it cuts much better than the ordinary light roller 

 cutter that is attached to a cultivator. 



The mother plant produces more runners than any one 

 of her progeny. It has been advocated, therefore, that 

 in matted row or spaced row training, the mother plants 

 be dug out as soon as enough runners are established, so 

 as to avoid the necessity of removing the runners made 

 by them during the remainder of the season. If the season 

 is wet and the layers quickly become independent of the 

 parent plant, this might be done to advantage ; but if the 



