104 WESTERN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



they are planted the better will be the crop the ensuing" year. 

 In other countries it is usual to plant both in the spring* and 

 fall ; but I find that plants set out in the fall in this country 

 invariably fail to become well enough rooted to withstand the 

 winter and give good crops the following season, and a plant 

 that does not thrive from the first time that it is put into the 

 ground will never amount to anything as a fruit producer. 



For growing plants, it is best to select them from stock 

 that has not been allowed to fruit, but which has been kept 

 expressly for that purpose. It will be found that plants 

 grown in this way will be more vigorous than those grown 

 from stock that has been partially exhausted by fruiting. 

 There are several methods of cultivating plants, of which I 

 think the two following are the best : The first is to take 

 small flower pots three inches in depth ; these are filled with 

 specially prepared, moist, rich soil ; they are then completely 

 embedded below the surface. The runners are placed over 

 the pots and held in place with a small, flat stone, or with a 

 small wooden peg. With a little moisture and favorable 

 weather, the little rootlets will soon find their way into the 

 fine earth waiting to receive them, and in a few weeks the 

 plants will be ready for removal. Another and much simpler 

 plan is to put in the little plants as they are thrown out on 

 the runners of the older stock. A little care in setting the 

 runners will be well repaid by a better stock of well-grown 

 plants ; if left to catch where they can, high winds will often 

 do a great deal of harm in shifting the runners, and so dis- 

 turbing the young plants before they are well rooted, and in 

 this and other ways it is often too late before they become 

 well enough established to stand removal. No young stock 

 should be allowed or expected to bear fruit the first season 

 after planting, nor will it be found profitable to allow even 

 the few flower trusses they throw out to remain ; these should 

 be pinched off, as the gain made in the small amount of fruit 

 they will bear the first season, will not compensate for the 

 drain it makes on the vigor of the plant. I fancy I hear 

 someone say I can't afford to let any crop have the use of my 



