PROPAGATION, BREEDING 115 
of plants rather than to the exhaustive work 
of producing buds, flowers, pollen, and fruit. 
PEDIGREED OR THOROUGHBRED PLANTS 
What is meant by the word “pedigree” or 
“thoroughbred” as applied to the plants of 
the strawberry? The words signify that 
the plant is of a particular strain, or that it 
has a known “‘line of ancestors,”’ sometimes 
called plant genealogy. It may be the 
result of breeding of two good parents and 
the subsequent selections of the best off- 
spring each year, until a constancy or fixed 
characteristic or habit is maintained. An- 
other method may be nothing but the selec- 
tion of the best producing plants of some 
variety for a long term of years. This may be 
started in the home garden where the plant 
is selected that produces: (1) The largest 
number of berries; (2) the largest number 
of well-shaped berries; (3) the largest 
number of large-sized, uniform berries; (4) 
the most vigorous, healthy plant, coupled 
with the three other characteristics. 
This plant is removed from the bed after 
fruiting and set in the well-prepared prop- 
agating bed for the production of plants. 
