THE STRAWBERRY JUNE 1907 



worth hundreds of dollars to me, but the 

 book I had, written by a man claiming to 

 be an expert, said the only remedy was 

 previous clean culture, and so the cut- 

 worms nearly ate me up. 



What a wonderful advantage there is in 

 beginning in any calling where the other 

 fellow left off, and with the splendid 

 strawberry literature you are giving us, 

 this is largely possible for the growers of 

 the finest fruit in the world! 



I think that strawberry growing has a 

 fine future in this section, as we can pro- 

 duce magnificent crops of fruit for many 

 months when the greater part of our coun- 

 try has gone into winter quarters. Later 

 on I may give my method of planting, 

 fertilizing, etc., if you think your readers 

 would care for them. 



Bradenlown, Fla. 



Certainly we and our readers shall want 

 Mr. Rood to give us his experiences. A 

 man who is working for the .$l,UOO-an- 

 acre goal is the sort of strawberry grower 

 we like to hear from, and very much 

 should like to know just how the trick 

 is done. And as the Southland is attract- 

 ing many a Northerner to its sunshine 

 and salubrity, we are sure that the recital 

 will be as interesting to folks up this way 

 as it will to those who reside nearer the 

 Gulf. And even those of us who never 

 may go South may get some helpful hints 

 applicable to Northern conditions. By 

 all means, let us have the account of the 

 way Mr. Rood is making his fine success 

 and expects to make a more monumental 

 one still. — Editor The Strawberry. 



* ^■ 



The Influence of Associates 



By S. H. Warren 



MY READERS will admit that the 

 influence of associates is an im- 

 portant factor in human life, but 

 probably few of them think that associa- 

 tion has much to do with the products of 

 a strawberry bed. 



In our valuable publication. The Straw- 

 berry, we are often reminded of the im- 

 portance of proper mating of pistillate and 

 staminate varieties in order that all the 

 blossoms of the pistillate varieties may be 

 well pollenized so as to form fruit that 

 shall not be "nubbins" or "buttons", as 

 imperfect berries sometimes are called. 

 Now there are other influences concern- 

 ing which some of you may not agree with 

 me, such as influence of color, influence 

 of size, and influence of quality, all of 

 which go into effect the same year the 

 berries are growing. Some of these effects 

 may not be as evident as others. 



I ha\e noticed that a light-colored pis- 

 tillate variety, pollenized by a dark stam- 

 inate, has darker-colored fruit than that 

 pollenized by a light-colored staminate. 

 If the color of the pistillate is thus affect- 

 ed, why will not the staminate variety 



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transfer its other characteristics as well, 

 even its size and its quality.' 



^'ears ago, when the Charles Downing 

 strawberry was cultivated, some of these 

 were once exhibited in Boston. Among 

 the Downings of normal shape were some 

 coxcomb in form, so conspicuous that the 

 judges questioned their being true Down- 

 ings. i"he exhibitor said that the berries 

 all grew in beds strictly free from plants 

 of any other variety than the Charles 

 Downing. The only way in which he 

 could account for the coxcomb shape of 

 some of his fruit was through the influence 

 of pollen from a bed of Sharpless on the 

 other side of the path from his Downings. 

 .All old growers of strawberries know that 

 the Sharpless, more than any other va- 

 riety, produces berries of coxcomb shape, 

 whereas the normal shape of the Downing 

 is conical. 



Since the pollen of the stamen has been 

 known to affect the color and the shape 

 of the developed fruit, may it not affect 

 other characteristics as well? So, we should 

 keep these things in mind when we choose 

 the staminate varieties which are to pol- 

 lenize our pistillates. An old friend of 

 mine once said that in ex'ery strawberry 

 bed, set out for his family use, he should 

 put a few particularly choice plants, his 

 own favorite variety, even if they were 

 not very productive, for the sake of the 

 influence of their pollen on the other va- 



Ptge 139 



rieties. T his same friend of mine had grown 

 and fruited two hundred thousand seed- 

 ling strawberry plants, from which he had 

 chosen but one variety that he wished to 

 put on the market. Even this one never 

 was introduced, for he died suddenly and, 

 as no one knew where this particular va- 

 riety grew, it was lost. I was given the 

 privilege of taking plants from any of his 

 seedlings, but I did not find his chosen 

 seedling. 



I am well aware that many writers say 

 that pollen has influence only on the prod- 

 uct of the seed polleiized, but they are 

 mistaken, according to what I have seen 

 with my own eyes, and seeing is be- 

 lieving." Weslon, Mass. 



THE Minnesota State Horticultural 

 Society has a very interesting and val- 

 uable feature as a part of its plan of work 

 in its annual reports from the vice-presi- 

 dents of the society, these vice-presidents 

 being apportioned one for each congres- 

 sional district in the state. These reports 

 give conditions of the fruit crop and the 

 names of varieties of all kinds of fruit grown 

 which do the best in the district repre- 

 sented by the respective vice-president. 

 We note that H. J. Baldwin of Northfield, 

 vice-president of the third congressional 

 district, reporting on strawberries says that 

 Warfield, Senator Dunlap, Sample and 



