336 ANNUAL REPORT. 



hard to believe that they really were Manchester, grown on soil of 

 like character, planted at the same time, manured in the same way^ 

 only forty rods apart, but fertilized by different perfect flowering 

 sorts. Champion is not as dark in color or as acid, when fertilized 

 with Cumberland Triumph, as it is with Wilson. 



These and other marked changes that 1 have noticed have con- 

 vinced me if that I have a pistillate strawberry, that under ordinary 

 conditions is lacking onl}' in flavor, I can improve this to some extent 

 by planting with it, some perfect flowering variety of high flavor, 

 and so on through the whole list — size, color and texture — each 

 of these can be improved by the proper selection of perfect flow- 

 ering varieties having the qualities that are deficient in the 

 pistillate when grown without care or thought in the matter. 



Even the perfect flowering varieties themselves are more or less 

 affected by other perfect flowering ones, if grown with or near them. 

 Thus Wilson and Sharpless grown together the past season gave 

 larger, more irregular and better-flavored Wilsons than when 

 grown alone, while the Sharpless were darker in color, firmer, and 

 more acid than when grown alone; and from my present lights on 

 the subject, if I were growing the Wilson strawberry for profit, 

 every third row would be planted with Sharpless or some other 

 perfect flowering, large berry, to increase its size; while to improve 

 its flavor, I would plant President Wilder, Downing, or other fine 

 flavored varieties. I shall experiment further, in this direction and 

 trust that you and others will do the same. 



Very truly yours, 



J. H. HALE. 



THE LA W IN CROSS-BBEEDING. 



In reference to fruit trees and plants, as was stated in the de- 

 bates at the annual meeting, all the facts I can find, new or old, by 

 reading, by observation, and by inquiry, point one way in this: 

 That the mother tree or plant is most likely to impart the consti- 

 tution, habits of growth, and external finish to the new seedling, 

 and the male plant the quality and the season of the fruit. Mr. 

 Peffer has always, I think, found it so in his experiments; and Dr. 

 E. Lewis Sturtevant, at the New York Experiment Station, at 

 Geneva, who is very cautious in statement, told me last fall that so 

 far the facts developed in his work indicate the same, although he 



