THE NURSERY-LIST 425 



the young plants to obtain a foothold. Plants strong enough for set- 

 ting are obtained in August and September of the same year in which 

 they start. Ordinarily, the runners will take root without artificial 

 aid ; but in hard soils, or with new or scarce varieties, the joints are 

 sometimes held down with a pebble or bit of earth, or are bedded in 

 the tips inserted into the ground with a trowel. The runners 

 from a bed that has borne fruit are not likely to be as vigorous and 

 desirable as runners from maiden plants those that have not yet 

 fruited. New varieties are often propagated throughout the season 

 from plants that are highly cultivated, and which are not allowed 

 to fruit. In commercial propagation, the ratio of increase of differ- 

 ent varieties is from fifteen to forty strong runners from one plant 

 set in the spring. Very strong plants are obtained by growing them 

 in pots. A 3-inch pot is sunk below the runner, preferably one from 

 a maiden plant, and the joint is held upon it by a stone or clod. 

 The runner is then pinched off, to prevent further growth, and to 

 throw all its energy into the one plant. The pot should be filled with 

 soft rich earth. Shouldered pots are best, because they can be 

 raised more easily than others, by catching the spade or trowel 

 under the shoulder. The plants will fill the pots in three or four 

 weeks, if the weather is favorable. Old tin fruit-cans, which have 

 been heated to remove the bottoms, old berry boxes and small 

 squares of inverted sod can also be used. 



Cuttings of the tips of runners are sometimes made and handled 

 in a frame, as an additional means of rapidly increasing new kinds. 

 These cuttings may be the cast-away tips left from the heading-in 

 or checking of the runners. 



Propagation by division of the old crown is practiced only to 

 save the stock of a rare variety that is threatened with extinction 

 and with varieties that make few or no runners, as the bush Alpines 

 and Pan-American. 



For forcing strawberries under glass, the first strong runners of 

 the season are rooted in 2-inch or 3-inch pots plunged under them, 

 being sure that the pots contain soil of prime quality. As soon as 

 the pots are filled with roots they are lifted, and the plants are 

 transferred to the 6-inch pots in which they are to fruit. These 

 fruiting pots are then plunged to the rim in coal ashes or other 

 material that will maintain uniform conditions in the pot and yet 

 not allow the plants to root through the bottom. The plants 

 should be well rooted in the pots, and with strong crowns, when 

 ripened in fall, preparatory to the winter forcing. 



