1 8 Strawberry Culture 



then in bloom, and every blossom pistillate as far as I could 

 see. A month later I was in the same bed and found one of the 

 best crops I had ever seen. A few wild berries in a pasture near 

 by must have furnished the pollen, unless the plants in the bed 

 were able to do it. 



It is not uncommon for a bed of pistillate plants to be poll- 

 enized by perfect-flowering varieties in another garden nearby. 

 I have never yet seen a case where a pistillate variety refused 

 to be fertilized by any bi -sexual variety that was near by and 

 bloomed at the same time. 



Growers use more and more bi-sexual varieties among the 

 pistillates. Years ago every seventh row, or even every tenth 

 row was Considered sufficient. Now many plant every third row 

 to a perfect-flowering sort. It is likely that if ev^ry pollen 

 grain went where it wculd do the most good, one perfect-flow- 

 ering blossom could fertilize several hundred that are pistillate. 



If some of the first blossoms fail to get fertilized the loss is 

 not so great as one might think; the later ones will have all the 

 better chance, and may offset the loss to a great extent. 



Selecting Varieties 



This is a subject on which it is not necessary to say much. 

 In the first place a grower should have as definite an idea as 

 possible what characteristics he desires in a variety. If he is a 

 beginner his safest course is to plant varieties that are recom- 

 mended by other growers in his immediate vicinity, whose 

 methods of culture are the nearest like those he proposes to 

 follow. Next to such varieties the safest are the standard varie- 

 ti es, which have been well tested and have the reputation of 



