436 ANNUAL EEPOET. 



ceive, that the fact appears to be well established that changes 

 do occur by cross-fertilizatiou, that fully affect the size, flavor, 

 and general character of the fruit. The reader will read else- 

 where in this x>aper the difference in the sexual organs of the 

 strawberry, and that while some are perfect flowering, like the 

 Wilson, Hovey, and others, yet there is a large class which need, 

 like the Crescent, Manchester, and many more, to be planted 

 near the others, or they will fail to produce perfect berries, or 

 entirely fail to produce at all. The Wilson will, as fertilizer, 

 with pistillate varieties, make a firm berry and will carry well. 

 Let the Sharpless be used, and a larger berry Mdll be produced 

 by the cross, but at the expense of the firmness. A well-known 

 grower of strawberries showed us some rows of the Manchester, 

 in which every fourth plant was a Sharpless, and informed us 

 that the Manchester was so changed by the Sharpless in its size, 

 shape, and color, that they were all picked and sold together for 

 Sharpless, and were to all appearance Sharpless. He had all 

 the bearing qualities of the Manchester combined with size, 

 color, and shape of the Sharpless. Director Lazenby, of Ohio 

 Experimental Station, in experiments with cross-fertilization, 

 has found in every instacce a marked resemblance in shape, size, 

 color, and general appearance to the fruit of the male parent. 

 So strongly was this marked that he states that the cross-bred 

 berries bore no resemblance to the female parent. Crescents 

 were fertilized with four different varieties — Cumberland, James 

 Vick, Charles Downing, and Sharpless. Fertilized by the Cum- 

 berland, the berries were light in color and soft; with the Vick, 

 small but firm; with the Downing, they were similar to the 

 Downing, with the characteristic gloss of that berry; -wfith the 

 Sharpless, they were large, like the Sharpless, and irregular. 

 He also experimented with the Manchester, with the same re- 

 sults as with the Crescent. 



T. T. Lyon, of Van Buren, Michigan, in a letter to the Enral 

 New Yorlcer^ disclaims belief in any marked degree of effect in 

 pollenization, and says that the Crescent remains, with him. the 

 same soft, insipid berry, whether fertilized by the Wilson, Bid- 

 well, Sharpless, or Miner, and says the same of other varieties 

 he has tested in cross-fertilization. He claims soil and cultiva- 

 tion will account for the changes supposed to be produced by 

 cross-fertilization. There is a possibility that Mr. Lyon may be 

 misled, from the fact, as observed by Mr. J. B. Rogers, of Mil- 

 burn, N. J., that some of the pistillate berries, in rich soils, be- 



