ORIGIN AND BOTANY 135 



crowded and consequently the fruit is very small. The 

 Hovey was a moderate plant maker, but a large propor- 

 tion of the varieties following it were exceedingly prolific 

 of plants. The Colfax, introduced in 1867, was said to 

 "kill weeds and everything else and completely occupy 

 the ground." In 1860 J. A. Warder recommended the 

 Necked Pine as " death on blue grass ; it will jump over the 

 fence and escape everything that trespasses. Plant it 

 thirty feet apart and let it run." The Crescent was so 

 prolific of plants that many growers set it ten feet apart 

 each way, and still got a good stand in normal seasons. 

 Consider also the remarkable plant-making ability of 

 Cumberland Triumph and many of its progeny, all de- 

 scendants of the Hovey; and the rampant runners of 

 the Charles Downing. It is exceedingly difiicult to asso- 

 ciate this free-running habit with a pure strain of F. 

 chiloensis. Few of the varieties of more recent introduc- 

 tion produce runners as freely as this, because it is no 

 longer desired. Some degree of runner restriction is con- 

 sidered essential to the production of good fruit ; naturally 

 this ideal is reflected in the selection of seedlings. 



Most plant breeders agree that the attribute of hardi- 

 ness cannot be acquired in a few years, by selection, unless 

 the plant under consideration happens to be a heterozy- 

 gote. As a general proposition, hardiness is the result of 

 some hundreds or thousands of years of natural selection. 

 Hence, if we wish to secure hardier varieties of a tender 

 plant in our own generation the most practicable course 

 is to infuse the blood of a hardier species. 



There are some places where F. chiloensis is quite hardy, 

 but for the most part it is a tender species. Its habitat 

 is the more tempered regions of North and South America. 

 The South American form, from which the Pine is sup- 



