196 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



such pistillates as the Golden Defiance, Champion, and 

 others, may not originate a variety superior to any now in 

 existence. At the same time, I must caution against over- 

 sanguine hopes. Mr. Durand states the interesting fact that 

 he generally produces 3,000 new varieties annually, and in- 

 cluding the year 1876, he had already originated about 

 50,000 seedlings. While some of these have already secured 

 great celebrity, like the Great American, I do not know of 

 one that promises to maintain a continued and national 

 popularity. I regard his old Black Defiance and the later 

 Pioneer as his best seedlings, so far as I have seen them. 

 Very many others do not have even his success. We may 

 have to experiment for years before we obtain a seedling 

 worth preser\dng ; nevertheless, in the heart of each propa- 

 gator lurks the hope that he may draw the prize of prizes. 



I will close this chapter with a few sim.ple and practical 

 suggestions. It is not necessary to place the seeds in ice. 

 They may be sown in July, in rich soil, rendered fine and 

 mellow, and in a lialf-shady position ; and the surface should 

 be kept moist by watering, and a sprinkling of a little very fine 

 compost, that will prevent the ground from baking. Some 

 of the seeds will germinate that season, more will come up 

 the following spring. Or, they may be started in a cold 

 frame under glass, and hastened in their growth so that 

 good-sized plants are ready for the fruiting-bed by Septem- 

 ber. Mr. Durand plants his seed in the spring, and the 

 seedlings bear the following year. The plants should be set 

 eighteen inches apart each way in the fruiting-bed. When 

 they blossom, note and mark all the pistillates as such. 

 Those that grow feebly, and whose foliage scalds or burns in 

 the sun, root out at once. The Spartan law of death to the 

 feeble and deformed should be rigorously enforced in the 

 fruit garden. The first year of fniting v/ill satisfy you that 



