2 66 Bulletin 134, 



the pots could gradually thaw out. Upon the 9th, they were 

 placed upon the benches in a house with a temperature of 40 45 

 degrees at night, and thereafter they were treated in the same 

 manner as those in the first lot. The third lot was handled in 

 essentially the same way. In the second and third lots were a 

 number of other varieties, of which the Sharpless and Van Deman 

 were the most prominent. There were also a few Hunn. The 

 best results were obtained with the Beder Wood, and this is the 

 variety which is shown in Fig. 75 and also upon the title-page. 

 One of its strong peculiarities is the comparatively small amount 

 of foliage which it bears and the consequent greater prominence 

 of the fruit. Its chief drawback is the light color of the berries. 

 In respect to color, the Van Deman is somewhat better, but the 

 habit of the plant is more tall and less attractive ; and although 

 it is a perfect-flowered berry, we had difiicultyin securing enough 

 pollen to fertilize it. Its great merit for a forcing berry is its 

 earliness. Sharpless is about ten days later than Van Deman, 

 and Hunn is at least two weeks later. This last is the handsom- 

 est berry which we have had in the house, being very large and 

 exceedingly dark colored ; but it is much too late to be profitable 

 for forcing. 



The first crop of Beder Wood averaged six first-class and uni- 

 form fruits to a plant in the whole lot of over four hundred pots. 

 The plants set from eight to twelve berries each, but the small 

 and imperfect ones were cut off and the limit was fixed at about 

 eight fruits. We are now convinced that if we could have had 

 stronger plants to start with, and with the experience of the 

 present winter, we could average eight fruits to the plant. At 

 this writing (April 23), the Beder Woods of the third lot are set- 

 ting their fruits freely and no hand pollination is given them. 

 The workman simply brushes his arm over the plants whenever 

 he passes along, and the pollen seems to have disseminated itself 

 freely. At this time of the year, however, the houses are open 

 and dry so that the pollen is discharged much more freely than it 

 is in the winter time. 



Because the pots are set so close together in the house, it is 

 possible to secure a larger yield per square foot under glass than is 

 obtained in the field. In our experience, eight to twelve pots 



