OLD FAVORITES AMONG STRAWBERRIES. 175 



Capt. Jack is a good, firm berry, but not very productive and 

 winter-kills sometimes badly. 



The Monarch, I think, is the same as Capt. Jack. 



Bederwood, though not an old berry, is very productive, rather 

 soft, of light color and a good fertilizer for the Warfield. 



Of all the berries that I have tried , the Warfield is the best pistillate 

 and the Bederwood the best staminate. 



Mr. C. W. Sampson: Did I understand you to say the War- 

 field is the best pistillate? 



Mr, Sargent: Yes, it did the best with me; the best I ever 

 tried. 



Mr, J. L. Hartwell, (111.): The gentleman spoke of the Capt. 

 Jack killing. Does it kill if mulched very thoroughly? 



Mr. Sargent: We do mulch, but sometimes it kills anyway. 



Mr. J. S. Harris: I saw a little meat in that paper, and that 

 was when he said he believed one reason why the Wilson had 

 run out was on account of the carelessness in making plants. I 

 believe the Wilson would be as good today as it was when it 

 first came out if every man had grown a patch for plants only, 

 and set plants from thoroughly set and matured runners, the 

 first, second and perhaps the third setting of plants, the largest 

 plants every year — from plants that had not produced, or at 

 least not enough to exhaust them. We find that all those 

 varieties that are great plant makers have run out unless that 

 course has been pursued. 



Mr. Hartwell: Can't you renew the vigor by selection? 



Mr. Harris: Taking the most vigorous plants and keeping 

 the vigor up, you can increase the productiveness. After the 

 Wilson was supposedto have run out, I had one bed one end of 

 which was loaded with berries, and I took a few of the best 

 plants from that bed and raised one hundred plants and set 

 them out, and I had as good Wilson berries as I ever saw; but 

 in a year or two they went back to the common Wilson again. 



Mr. O. C. Gregg: I would like to ask Prof. Hansen what he 

 thinks about restoring or endeavoring to restore the vitality of 

 a plant like the Wilson by this law of selection? 



Prof. N. E. Hansen: I think in horticulture we have not 

 given enough attention to the selection of plants and cuttings 

 as well as cions. They are beginning now to select cuttings 

 from currant bushes and cions from plum trees only from the 

 most productive bushes and trees. There are no two buds of a 

 tree exactly alike; there is a difierence in them, and this has 

 been proven by experiment. So in all of our cuttings of cions 

 and grafting we should be extremely caref al to get them from 



