134 Strawberry-Growing 



hardly justified. The importance that once was attached 

 to this subject, by some, is indicated by a statement made 

 in 1894: "It is probable that every desirable pistillate 

 sort has a good friend among the staminates that it should 

 be married to in preference to others." * This view is 

 given little credence now. Matthew Crawford says, "I 

 have never yet seen a case where a pistillate variety 

 refused to be fertilized by any bisexual variety that was 

 near and that bloomed at the same time." 



Practically all staminate varieties will not only fer- 

 tilize themselves and each other, but also any pistillate 

 sort that is planted near them, A. S. Fuller stated that 

 he had seen varieties which bore flowers "that, to all 

 outward appearance, were perfect; still, neither their 

 own pollen nor that of any other varieties would fertilize 

 the pistils, except in rare instances." The Crystal City, 

 or Acme, was said to behave in this way under certain 

 conditions. The Marshall has been shown to be some- 

 what inclined toward self-sterility ; that is, it does not set 

 fruit so well with its own pollen as with that of some other 

 variety.^ Such instances, however, are so rare as to be 

 almost negligible. Ewert has shown that parthenogenesis, 

 or the production of fruit without fertilization, is common 

 in the strawberry.' His experiments lead him to believe 

 that self-sterility does not exist among European varieties.* 



Immediate influence of pollen. 



Can the character of the fruit be influenced by the 

 variety used as a poUinizer ? The seeds will be crossed ; 



» Jacob Biggie, in "II'-Bgle Berry Book" (1894), p. 43. 

 ^ C. C. Georgeson found some of his hybrids between the native 

 F. chikensis of Alaska and a common variety self-sterile. 

 » Landw. Jahrb. 38 (1909), Nos. 5-6, p. 767. 

 ' Jahr. Ver. Angew. Bot^ 5 (1907), p. 83. 



