AGRICDLTDRAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 73 



3. Of the older varieties of strawberries tried, the best are 

 Bubach, Crescent, Haverland, Sharpless and Warfield, with possi- 

 bly Beeder Wood or Michel's as very early perfect llowerino; sorts. 

 Of the newer varieties Beverly, Dayton, Epping, Gillespie, Green- 

 ville, Parker Earle, Princess and Smeltzer are promising. 



4. Of the raspberries thoroughly tried, Cuthbert, Golden Queen, 

 and Shaffer are the best for general purposes. The black caps are 

 not recommended for general culture. 



NOTES OX PLAXT-BKEEDIXG. 

 W. M. Muxsox. 



To many people the term "plant-breeding" conveys an indefinite 

 idea of some "hobby" which may be attracting the attention of 

 experimenters, and the immediate 2^Tac(icalya.\\ie of the work is not 

 recognized. To meet the inquiries frequently received, a brief out- 

 line of the nature of our work in this direction is given at this time — 

 a more elaborate discussion of reasons and principles being deferred 

 until a later date. 



There are about 107,000 species of flowering plants, and of these 

 4,233 species are known to have furnished fojd for man at some 

 time — either habitually or during famine periods. Of this number 

 about one-fourth are, or have at some time been, cultivated for 

 human food. At the present time there are under cultivation to an 

 important extent about 300 species. But many of these species 

 present varieties almost without number. The apple and pear, for 

 instance, have each given more than 3,000 named varieties ; the 

 potato nearly 1,000 varieties ; wheat, 400; corn, 200; cabbage, 

 200 ; pea and beau each, 150, and other species from 10 to 100 or 

 more. 



Now the development of this great number of varieties and forms 

 has been the gi'adual outgrowth in many cases of centuries of care 

 and selection on the part of man. The apple, the pear, the bean, 

 the cabbage, wheat and some others are known to have been under 

 cultivation for more than 4.000 years, while most of our cultivated 

 fruits and vegetables have been known for from 500 to 2,000 years. 

 From the earliest times nature has been producing plants best fitted 

 to meet the struggle for existence. Nature develops plants with 

 the strongest constitutions and with organs best fitted for self-per- 



