ORIGIN AND BOTANY 147 



were of no value except as curiosities. From among these 

 seedlings I selected the Francis and America." ^ These 

 two varieties, and the Progressive, a later introduction, 

 are distinctly superior to Pan-American and have given a 

 decided impetus to the garden culture of the everbearers. 

 Other plant breeders who have labored in this field 

 with considerable success are Charles F. Gardner, of Osage, 

 Iowa, E. H. Riehl, of Alton, Illinois, and Albert F. Etter, 

 of Ettersburg, California. Except for the Ettersburg 

 seedlings, the basis for improvement has been the Pan- 

 American or its descendants. A remarkable instance 

 of precocity in everbearing seedlings is reported by 

 C. F. Gardner : 2 " Good specimens of ripe fruit were 

 picked May 28th and planted the same day in an ordi- 

 nary seed bed. The little plants began coming in sight 

 ten days afterward. On August 6th the seedlings were 

 set in the field and kept absolutely clean. The first 

 fruit buds were seen on August 28th; the first petals 

 expanded on August 30th, and the first ripe berries were 

 found on October 2d, less than five months from the seed." 

 The term "fall-bearer," as applied to varieties of this 

 type, should be discarded; "everbearing" describes their 

 distinctive habit more accurately. They are fall-bearing 

 only when the cultivator so desires ; if left to themselves, 

 they will begin bearing in the spring and produce more or 

 less fruit all the season. 



Botany of the Strawberry 



The wild strawberry is one of the most widely diffused 

 plants. It is abundant in all of northern and central 



1 Kept. Iowa Hort. Soc, 1909, p. 185. 

 ^Ibid., 1911, p. 124. 



