Small Fruits. 371 



the year's growth measuring twenty feet. Think of what a wire trellis 

 they will cover; twelve feet apart is none too far. I will use three 'No. 

 11 smooth wires, the top one eight feet from the ground, the bottom one 

 two feet. This leaves me seventy-two square feet of trellis for each vine, 

 besides the twenty-four inches below the first wire, which is often used 

 by the vines that yield grapes. A vine like this will produce the third 

 year from twenty-five to fifty pounds of grapes, at five cents per pound. 

 In the former estimate my three hundred vines would yield me $375 

 and in the latter $750. The land they occupy is much less than an acre. 



E. ^Y. Geee, 



Farmington, Mo. 



SMALL FRUITS. 



IMPKOVmG STEAWBEEEIES BY SELECTION. 



TO WHAT EXTENT IS IT POSSIBLE? 



We often have questions from our fruit-growing readers who ask 

 whether it is possible to improve varieties of strawberries by selection. 

 Most strawberry growers seem to select their plants for setting, from 

 matted rows, picking out vigorous plants only, of course knowing little 

 about their pedigree. Some growers appear to think that the superiority 

 of certain plants is due chiefly to their environment, that is, the culture 

 and care which they have received. Our own observation seems to show 

 that no plant or berry can be induced to continue to improve after it has 

 reached ideal treatment, that is, after it receives just the food and mois- 

 ture and other conditions that it needs. Then it seems to be at its best, 

 and no amount of selection can improve it. Unless you give these best 

 plants the best of care, they wall deteriorate, and other plants taken from 

 them will not be equal to them, unless they are equally well cared for. 

 In other words, with the strawlierry and most other fruits, is it not more 

 a question of care and feeding than of pedigree? 



