398 ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN BOTANY 



Small Fruits 



105. Strawberry. There are wild strawberries in the 

 eastern states, and a generation or two ago strawberries 

 were scarcely known except in the wild state, but these wild 

 species have not yielded much to .cultivation. All of the 

 common cultivated forms are derived from a Pacific coast 

 species which was introduced into cultivation over 200 

 years ago from Chili. It is now possible for any one who 

 has a plot of ground to have a strawberry bed. 



The strawberry plant is propagated 

 naturally by runners, which form after 

 blossoming. A runner strikes root at the 



FIG. 67. A strawberry plant, showing a runner that has de- 

 veloped a new plant, which in turn has sent out another runner. 

 After SEUBERT. 



tip and sends up a cluster of leaves, thus establishing an inde- 

 pendent plant (Fig. 67). In cultivation, these runner plants 

 are transplanted or let alone, and they bear fruit the follow- 

 ing year. A strawberry bed may bear for several years, 

 but the first and second crops are the best, so that it is cus- 

 tomary to break up a bed after one to three years of bearing. 

 The best soil is a dark, sandy, and rather moist loam, and 

 good drainage is necessary. In preparing a bed the soil is 

 top-dressed with fine manure and well pulverized. Then 

 the plants are set out, obtained from the runner plants of the 

 previous season. These young plants are usually better 

 allowed to remain in connection w T ith the parent plants until 



