EDITORIAL. 708 



fact wiiioh has been recognized hy Hilgard and others, particularly in 

 the .study of the yirg-in soils of America. 



As bearing- on the much discussed question of the merits of yariety 

 testing and the ditiiculty in drawing safe deductions from the results, 

 the work reported from the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm with 

 .strawberries can hardly fail to be of interest. The report is giyen in 

 abstract in the present number (p. 7-1:7) and eyidences much skill and 

 pains in conducting the test of 85 yarieties of strawberries for 5 suc- 

 cessiye years. This station is a priyate institution, and the work was 

 not undertaken on account of an}' popular clamor for immediate infor- 

 mation. The conclusion reached b}' the authors is that the results 

 •'haye entirely failed in proying accurately the respectiye merits of 

 dilferent yarieties of strawberries." Plants of the same yarieties 

 grown under the same conditions but of different ages furnished data 

 from which entirely different conclusions might be drawn, according 

 to the season selected for the comparison. Likewise, different yarie- 

 ties of the same age grown under precisely the same conditions, so far 

 as could be determined, gaye similar irregular yariations in different 

 years. In the same season great yariations were found to occur owing 

 to minute yariations in the position of the plants. ""One yariety may 

 in one season 3aeld only one-fifth that which it giyes in the next, or 

 one-fifth of what it giyes in some other position; whereas in the case 

 of another yariety the results are entirely reyersed and the yield in 

 the next season or in the other position is .5 times greater instead 

 of 5 times less." The writers go so far as to condemn yariety testing 

 in general, and maintain that such work will not lead to a better knowl- 

 edge of the respectiye merits of yarieties than might be gained from 

 general repute or from experienced nurserymen. This, of course, 

 would not apply to new yarieties or those untried in the section. 

 While many will not agree with the broad conclusions reached, the 

 results furnish a striking illustration of the discrepancies to be met 

 with in yariety testing, and the warning which the article sounds 

 against extensiye work of this character is in accord with the yiews 

 held b}' many experiment station workers in this country. 



