The Strawberry Book. 45 
end they should not be allowed to make more than one 
or at most two runners. 
The seedlings may be set in the bed where they are to 
fruit, in rows two feet apart, with the plants eighteen 
inches asunder in the rows. If space is limited, the rows 
may be narrowed six inches, and the plants brought six 
inches nearer each other in the rows. If one or two run- 
ners are allowed to grow, they should be made to take 
root close to the parent plant. / All vines whose leaves 
burn, or suffer from sun-scald, may profitably be pulled 
up and thrown away before they fruit. Many seedlings 
that are perfectly healthy are pulled up and destroyed by 
the experienced grower before they fruit. A beginner 
cannot be trusted to do this; but after raising a few gen- 
erations of seedlings he will be able to select quite a large 
percentage, of which he can prophesy that they will come 
to no good, and which may as well be put out of the way 
at once. _ 
As the fruit on the seedling begins to ripen, it should be 
closely watched from day to day, and its progress noted. 
When fully ripe it should be tested, and marked, not ab- 
solutely as good or bad, but comparatively, by reference 
to some standard kind. If a seedling seems worthy of 
preservation it should be encouraged to make runners, 
twenty or thirty of which may easily be obtained; and 
these, carefully transplanted as soon as possible, will give 
a little bed of the new variety for. more liberal testing the 
next year. 
No seedling should be preserved — a few rare cases ex- 
cepted — which is not healthy, vigorous, and productive, 
These are prime requisites. Besides these, its fruit should 
be large, of tolerably uniform size and symmetrical shape, 
with few small berries, bright colored and firm, not too 
acid, and with as high a flavor as possible. Almost all 
these good traits are united in some berries we now pos- 
sess, so that our ideal strawberry is not an impossible one. 
