20 The Strawberry Book. 
how to produce the largest fruit, regardless of other con- 
siderations. 
In another market he may find it better to spend less 
labor on his beds, and let them produce as large an 
amount as they will of medium-sized fruit. 
Generally speaking, the large foreign kinds require to be 
cultivated in hills, and to have their runners often clipped, 
in order to produce the best results. On the other hand, 
many varieties, and especially American kinds, grow and 
bear best in beds, the runners being allowed to spread 
and root at will. The Jucunda and the Hovey may stand 
as examples of these two classes. The Jucunda in hills 
gives a large crop of enormous showy berries, -but a very 
much smaller crop when allowed to spread, while it is 
impossible to get any results of value from the Hovey 
unless it is grown in a wide bed. The contrast is seen 
further in the fact that the British Queen, Jucunda, Tri- 
omphe de Gand, &c., may be kept in hills for three or 
four years and good crop obtained, while the best results 
are obtained with the Hovey and its congeners by what 
is called the 
ANNUAL SYSTEM. 
This plan, considered by many the neatest of all, re- 
quires a very rich soil, the best plants carefully set out to 
start with, and geod cultivation, for complete success. 
‘Where all the conditions are favorable, the results obtained 
by the annual method are amazing. 
The soil being well prepared, — deep, rich, and abun- 
dantly manured, — the plants — of the best quality, and 
carefully handled — are set out in the spring in rows four 
feet apart, and one foot apart in the row. 
The soil between the rows is kept clean by the frequent 
use of the cultivator until the runners begin to spread con- 
siderably, when nothing more remains to be done until 
fall, except to pull out by hand any conspicuous weeds. 
