4 
Colorado Agricultural College 
pots consisted of one-third garden loam, one-third leaf mold, and 
one-third clean sand. Bone meal was added to this soil at the 
rate of 30 pounds to each 500 pounds of soil. Drainage was pro¬ 
vided for by placing pieces of broken pots in the bottom of each 
pot. After the runners had become firmly established in the pots, 
they were detached from the mother plants. They were kept 
watered and in good growing condition until the middle of 
August when they were brought up to the greenhouses and 
shifted into 7-inch pots, after which they were placed in a cold- 
frame and plunged into sand up to the rim. The same kind of 
soil, with the same fertilizer, was used as in the first potting. In 
the coldframe the plants were watered and the runners removed 
as soon as they appeared. The plants were in most excellent con¬ 
dition, and when freezing weather came, the coldframe was cov¬ 
ered with a layer of leaves to protect the crowns from freezing 
and thawing during the early winter months. By this time, the 
pots were well filled with roots, and the crowns were large and 
plump. 
To test whether the year-old plants were better for forcing 
than the young plants, a number of old plants were planted in pots 
at the same time that the runners were taken, and were treated ex¬ 
actly in the same manner as the young runner plants, but only two 
varieties of old plants were used, namely, Marshall and Glen Mary. 
FORCING THE PLANTS 
The pots were left in the coldframe until the latter part of 
January, having remained in a frozen condition during part of 
November, December and January. The plants were uncovered 
and the sun permitted to act on the coldframe until the pots could 
be loosened from the frozen bed; then they were taken into a 
cold cellar where the dead leaves and rubbish were removed, the 
pots washed and prepared for the greenhouse. They were left 
in the cold cellar for ten days to permit the soil to thaw out and 
to gradually start the root system into activity. The temperature 
of'the cellar was from five to ten degrees F. above freezing. 
If they are removed to the greenhouse immediately after being 
taken out of the frozen soil, the crowns develop more rapidly than 
the root system, and the result is a poor crop and weak plants, 
while if left in a low temperature for a week or ten days the crown 
remains dormant while the root system starts its activity and is 
able to supply the plant food when the plant is placed in a higher 
temperature. Before final removal of the plants to the forcing 
house, each plant was thoroly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture to 
