234 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



treat of nice berries from August to November amply repaid all 

 trouble and incidently paved the way to an acquaintance with Mr. 

 Hockhill of Iowa, the berry specialist. 



He wrote me that he had four varieties of everbearers that he 

 wanted me to test, with the restriction that I was not to allow any 

 plants to leave the farm. One dozen of each variety was planted and 

 each variety grew fine. 



The berries of one variety were poor and it was discarded, the 

 other three varieties were named Iowa, Frances and Americus. The 

 Iowa was sold to an Ohio nursery but I continued to grow Frances 

 and Americus. 



The next year I planted 200 Frances and Americus and from 

 these plants we picked sixty quarts of nice berries in August, Sep- 

 tember, October and November. Frances appears to have some of 

 the Alpine "blood" left in it, consequently it is more tender in plant 

 and a smaller berry than the Americus but both are persistent summer 

 bearers and the new plants are often in bloom before they have taken 

 root. 



In 1909 I received two more varieties, but did not consider them 

 equal to the ones already tested. In 1910 one more variety was 

 received to be tested. They were prolific plant makers of very strong 

 plants and ripened berries of larger size and better quality than any of 

 the others, and well named, "Progressive." I grew several thousand 

 of these in 1911 for Mr. Rockhill to distribute among nurserymen in 

 Iowa, Missouri and Michigan. 



They were strong plants with a very heavy foliage and it was a 

 pleasure in August to find nice lucious berries nestled away in the 

 loliage. 



In 1913 the first Progressive plants weFe put on the market at 

 $75 per thousand. I planted 10,000 of the ever-bearers last spring and 

 by the last of July were picking berries by the crate, but the 1913 

 drouth was too much for even the Progressive and while they lived 

 through and continued to bloom they failed to ripen any berries in 

 the later part of August or September. A small bed was left to bear 

 in the spring of 1913 and they more than doubled the yield of any other 

 berry on the place and were as early as Excelsior. 



I expect to plant 20,000 in 1914 and with a normal season will 

 pick berries all summer and have a fine bed for berries in May and 

 June of 1915. 



Ten thousand will be planted in a field where it will be possible 

 to irrigate them. 



Mr. Rockhill claims to have spent $10,000 in time and money 

 perfecting the everbearers and puts in all his time on new seedlings; 

 keeping a record of his crosses so that he possibly has the only real 

 pedigreed plants in the United States. The growing of everbearers 

 is a fad with Mr. Rockhill or he would never have the patience to 

 work three years pollenating, growing and destroying plants in 



