PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING 129 



berries are better than they used to be, and I am very greatly pleased that 

 we have this berry; but 1 have made comparisuus with plants that are 

 grown without regard to that one thing in other places, and the whole 

 thing nuiy have met with some change. Here, you see, a person is likely 

 to be deceived, and, as slated in the paper, I am going to begin a new 

 series of experiments, and 1 shall watch this inquiry of Cornell with a 

 good deal of solicitude to see what their results are, I am sorry I have 

 not the questions here. I do not know what they have discovered, or what 

 particular inlluence excited them to send out these inquiries, but I am 

 satisfied that the general vigor of plants can be maintained by discarding 

 those which are weak from any cause, whether it is a root weakness or 

 any other weakness. Sometimes a plant will have no rootage. There is 

 no question but plants do vary in their fruiting ability, and that they run 

 out. Such running out is simply a varying in the wrong direction, taking 

 on qualities we do not want. 



Mr. Hetzmau: Mr. Kellogg tells us that he thinks varieties of fruits, 

 propagated as they usually are in the nurseries, are likely to deteriorate 

 or vary. He tells us that he keeps the blossoms all off of the strawberry 

 plants that he grows for production of plants. Now, would not the same 

 cause work the same elTect to the strawberries, not allowing them to fruit, 

 taking plants from those that had been kept restricted, would it not 

 work in the same way? 



Mr. Kellogg: Identically the same way, but that is what Kellogg does 

 not do. I am glad you brought this up. I used to remove all but one or 

 two berries until I found the plant well established. It is like a gymnast. 

 When prize-tighters get ready for a contest they go through a course of 

 training for weeks and weeks, which it would kill me to undertake. The 

 gymnast develops his muscles, and the berry is not an exception to that 

 rule. The second year I take scissors and cut out all the weak blossoms, 

 and simply let the plant develop a few seeds to great perfection. Per- 

 haps it is crankiness in me, but it is just like learning to write; you 

 follow an improper method and you will never make any improvement 

 in the world. The second year, when I get what I call a stocky plant, 

 I cut off two thirds of it, and I do not let it go to pollen exhaustion. That 

 is one of the most important things in the whole system of breeding 

 plants. My experience has satisfied me beyond a question that if you cut 

 •those off every year and allow the plant to do all it can without pollen 

 exhaustion, it gains strength. I wish to keep things in a normal condition 

 and keep them going right along; that is the idea. I would not cut blos- 

 soms off from strawberry plants every year, neither would I cut off the 

 plants. I never allow spring-set plants to raise a berry. 



Mr. Smith: I would like to ask how many times one must reproduce a 

 new variety before he has a legitimate right to give it a new name? 



Mr. Kellogg: I suppose there is no restriction on giving anything a 

 new name. It is a matter of honor, of taking an old variety and giving 

 it a new name and putting it before the public as something new. 



Mr. Keid: How long should a man test a variety before sending it out; 

 how many seasons should he develop and test it? 



Mr. Kellogg: I± is a question of reputation on the part of the pro- 

 ducer. It has been found, by men who are giving that subject attention. 

 that it is not safe to put out a variety, because some kinds will do well 

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