THE STRAWBERRY 277 



This was quite the most interesting group of 

 wild strawberries that I have come across any- 

 where. But these plants do not seem to thrive 

 in the valleys as they do in their mountain home. 



As to the latter point, there is a striking pro- 

 pensity on the part of certain strawberries to 

 degenerate when placed under changed condi- 

 tions of soil and climate. 



We have seen that plums and many other 

 plants are stimulated to exceptional growth by 

 precisely such a change. But when the most 

 promising wildlings from the Yosemite were 

 transplanted to my gardens they ran to vines 

 and produced very little fruit, although in their 

 native habitat they had borne abundantly. 



The experience was precisely the same with 

 certain strawberries that were sent from Alaska 

 and from Norway, and in many of those from 

 Chile. When the Alaskan vines came to me, 

 through the kindness of the captain of an 

 Alaskan steamer, they were in full bloom and 

 later supported an abundance of splendid 

 berries. But under cultivation in my grounds 

 they failed to produce fruit, but persisted in 

 making runners only. The new soil and climate 

 which had proved such a stimulus to Japanese 

 plums and New Zealand rhubarb and European 

 daisies, and almost countless others, proved a 



