24 THE CULTURE OF 



Of clearing the Runners. 



the sides of these plants, spreading over the 

 surface of the ground, of which they require 

 to be early and frequently divested, by 

 pulling them off close to the plants in the; 

 former month, and continuing such practice 

 regularly over the bed every two or three 

 weeks throughout the summer, or at least 

 until the crop of fruit is matured and col- 

 lected, entirely clearing away the whole $ 

 the growth of which being suffered, will not 

 only enervate the parent plant, but consi- 

 derably affect the vigor of its bloom and 

 fructification. 



In the Alpine, which is a perpetual 

 bearer by runners of the same year's growth^ 

 soon after they appear in the spring, thin 

 them regularly by pulling or cutting away 

 the more weak, and leaving only a mode- 

 rate supply of the largest and strongest, to 

 produce fruit throughout the summer : but 

 in the autumn, when the beds are about to 



