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HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



No. 5 produced 1,130 grams, the average weight being 1.33 grams. In other 

 words, plant No. 5 showed an increase of 75% in yield over plant No. 3 and 

 an increase of 18% in size. In 1900 these same plants produced as follows : 

 Plant No. 3, 1,104.4 grams of fruit, averaging 0.96 grams each ; plant No. 5, 

 2,393.5 grams, averaging 1.05 grams each. Plant No. 5 showed, therefore, in 

 this year an increase of 117% in yield and 9% in size over plant No. 3. It 

 should be remembered that these are comparisons between five of what ap- 

 peared to be the best plants at the time of selection. The second year as 

 fruiting approached five poor plants were also selected, choosing not the 

 smallest plants which could be found, but those of apparently the poorest type 

 and generally small. The average yield of these five plants, not to take the 

 poorest one, was 154.3 grams, the average weight of berry being .74 grams. 

 Comparing plant No. 5 with the average of these five poor plants shows that 

 its increase in yield over their average yield was 1457%, the increase in size of 

 fruit being 42%. 



These figures are introduced to emphasize the fact of individuality in plants. 

 There is a radical difference in behavior of different plants of the same variety 

 in the same field. What contributes to this individuality? Probably many 

 things. The environment, though apparentlv the same, may in fact differ 

 greatly. Perhaps in distributing the fertilizer a larger amount may have 

 fallen near one plant. Soil moisture is variable ; perhaps the conditions in one 

 place may be more favorable. Perhaps one plant may have suffered from an 

 insect attack or from some mechanical accident which no longer shows. Per- 

 haps the vigor of the plants may have differed when set, owing to one plant 

 having been grown under better conditions than another. Even under the 

 best of conditions of field culture such possibilities always exist. Yet when 

 ample allowance has been made for them all, there still remains the fact that 

 the inherent vigor of the individuals must differ. How great this difference 

 is, is a point needing further investigation. Probably it is often underesti- 

 mated ; perhaps in our zeal for plant breeding we overestimate it. To learn 

 something of its importance in connection with these strawberries has been one 

 of the points under investigation, and it is in connection with this trial that 

 some of the difficulties have been met. 



The most productive plant from eight of the most promising varieties was 

 chosen from which to continue the selection, the aim being to constantly 

 select young plants from the parent giving the largest yield. The first 

 obstacle met was found to be the loss of vigor entailed in the production of 

 a heavy crop. In one or two cases the plant producing the largest yield was 

 so thoroughly exhausted thereby that young plants could not be obtained 

 with which to carry on the selection. In others, they were evidently lacking 

 in vigor. The first move, then, was to provide against this difficulty by 

 selecting from all the plants of a variety under trial, before fruiting, a suffi- 

 cient number of young plants with which to carry on the selection, then all 

 are discarded except those from the plant which at fruiting time proves most 

 productive. This adds greatly to the number which must be cared for at any 

 given time and complicates the work. 



A second question has since arisen. It is always somewhat troublesome to 

 keep plants in hills, and particularly so when, as in this case, a few runners 



