Clausen: Ettersburg Strawberries 



331 



these trials are on the whole very 

 encouraging. Thus in New York 

 Taylor- has tested seventeen of the 

 varieties whieh have been introduced, 

 and even under the totally different 

 conditions of that locality with respect 

 to soil and climate he has found four of 

 them good enough to include in his list 

 of desirable varieties. It ajDpears, there- 

 fore, that some will be found excellently 

 adapted to other than the ideal condi- 

 tions of Humboldt County. Their 

 remarkable vigor and their deep rooting 

 system and drouth resistant foliage 

 would indicate an ability to withstand 

 trying summer conditions with respect 

 to heat and drouth, and such in fact is 

 the case. The enduring qualities of F. 

 chiloensis are, if anything, accentuated 

 in the hybrids. The varieties un- 

 doubtedly deserve a wide and thorough 

 trial, and the indications are that, when 

 the story of that trial shall have been 

 told, certain of the hybrids will have 

 been found adapted to almost any con- 

 dition under which strawberries are 

 grown. 



The work whieh Mr. Etter has done 

 has great significance in practical straw- 

 berry breeding. Whether or not it has 

 succeeded in producing varieties which 

 are suitable for all the varied needs and 

 conditions of strawberry growing is 

 not so important as the fact that it has 

 demonstrated the wonderful possibilities 

 which lie in practical strawberry breed- 

 ing, and has developed a method of 

 attack of that problem which yields 

 remarkable results. Most important of 

 all is the demonstration of the fact that 

 further hybridization of the common 

 garden varieties of the strawberry, 

 themselves supposedly largely F. chilo- 

 ensis derivatives, with wild forms of 

 that species results in a notable increase 

 in vigor and in the production of new 

 varieties superior in every respect to 

 the commonly cultivated ones. George- 



son, ■'' endeavoring to breed new varieties 

 of strawberries suitable for Alaskan 

 conditions by hybridizing their native 

 F. chiloensis with a Common garden 

 variety, has found exactly the same 

 thing to be true, and his enthusiastic 

 accounts of the work remind one very 

 much of the parallel results which Mr. 

 Etter is securing under California 

 conditions. 



SECRETS OF SUCCESS 



We have reported in this article the 

 remarkable results which Mr. Etter 

 has secured in thirty years of persistent 

 and intelligent strawberry breeding. 

 This success is due to the fact that he 

 has become thoroughly familiar with 

 the material with which he is working 

 and has evolved a method of strawberry 

 breeding which has proved very effec- 

 tive in the production of new, superior 

 varieties. Essentially this method is 

 the same as that which has been 

 adopted by a number of successful plant 

 breeders, namely that of hybridization 

 followed by thorough trial and careful 

 selection. The work of selection is of 

 course simplified in the strawberry ?jy 

 the fact that vegetative propagation 

 may be used to perpetuate any par- 

 ticularly excellent individual, and that 

 perhaps with very little likelihood of 

 any subsequent deterioration. The 

 selection in effect has been made through 

 several generations, as is usually neces- 

 sary before the desired combinations of 

 characteristics are secured. While the 

 new varieties thus secured have not 

 yet been thoroughly tested, present 

 indications are that many of them will 

 prove highly successful under a variety 

 of conditions. At any rate a successful 

 method of attack in strawberry breeding 

 has been discovered, and these Etters- 

 burg hybrid strawberries are a success- 

 ful application of that method. 



2 Taylor, O. M., Strawberry Varieties. New York Geneva Sta. Bui. 401, pp. 165-192, 1915. 



3 Georgeson, C. C. An. Repts. Alaska Expt. Sta., 1906-1913. 



