Strawberry Culture 7 



little later blossom buds will be seen coining up from the center 

 of the plant. We will cut these off, because the production of 

 flowers and fruit would be too much of a tax on a newly set 

 plant. We must continue to stir the ground frequently so as to 

 keep a loose surface to retain the moisture in the soil. This 

 frequent stirring incidentally prevents the growth of weeds. 

 Cutting off the blossoms relieves the plant of a part of its work, 

 and growth will be all the more rapid. If it is not allowed to 

 spend its strength in producing blossoms and fruit, it will be 

 the better able to send out runners, which it will immediately 

 do. This, too, is a tax on its energies, and the careful grower 

 will nip off the runner as soon as it makes its appearance. This 

 prompt cutting off of blossoms and runners, and frequent stirr- 

 ing of the surface, especially if the soil is rich, will give the 

 plant every chance to grow, and where will this growth take 

 place? Mainly in the crown, which corresponds to the bulb of 

 the lily or the body of the tree. Of course, the roots and leaves 

 are being increased in numbers; the former to absorb food, in 

 liquid form, from the soil, and the latter to spread it out over a 

 large surface so as to let the water dry out of it to boil it down. 

 The object of all this is to store up substance in the stem or body 

 of the plant to enable it to produce a crop of seed the next sea- 

 son. But seed is not the only means the plant has of multiply- 

 ing its kind. It sends out runners from the axils of the leaves just 

 as a grape vine sends out laterals. The more we do to promote 

 growth, the more leaves and runners will be produced; and, if 

 we let the plant have its own way, it will spend so much of its 

 energy and vitality in the production of runners that it will be 

 nearly exhausted at the end of the growihg season, and in very 

 poor shape to produce a crop the next, season, or even to endure 

 the winter. As fruit is our object, we will compel the plant to 



