160 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



are erect, sometimes eighteen inches high when the plants 

 are grown in hills. An erect habit is an advantage; if 

 the foliage straggles on the ground there is more likely to 

 be injury by mildew, mold, and leaf blight, and the blos- 

 soms are not as well protected from frost. 



Runners. The successful variety must be a good plant- 

 maker. Fifty years ago, varieties that produced runners 

 very freely, and hence required little attention to secure a 

 full stand, were preferred. This is one reason why the 

 Crescent was so popular. In recent years, the advantages 

 of restricting and spacing runners have become so generally 

 recognized that a variety which produces a great many 

 plants is handicapped somewhat; it costs too much 

 to remove the surplus runners. On the other hand, 

 a variety that makes very few runners cannot hope to 

 become popular. The growers look upon it with disfavor 

 because the stand is likely to be poor in a dry season ; 

 and the nurserymen will not push it, which is an even more 

 effective way of consigning a variety to oblivion. 



Only a small part of the strawberries in North America 

 are grown in hills ; the other methods of training require 

 a variety that is certain to produce a number of runners 

 under average conditions. The Jewel was an excellent 

 variety for the intensive hill culture practiced by its origi- 

 nator, P. M. Augur, who claimed, as one of its strong 

 points, that it did not "exhaust itself in making useless 

 runners." It failed under field culture for this reason. 

 English varieties, which are not successful here as a class, 

 make few leaves and runners; the plants are not well 

 protected by foliage from the extremes of temperature of 

 both winter and summer. Few runners are an advantage 

 in varieties that are to be grown under hill or hedge-row 

 training. A moderate number of runners are an advantage 



