mmmmmmmmmmmmm 

 SALISBURY, MARYLAND 



A Field of Townsend's Thoroughbreds Photographed in September. Please Notice Particularly 



the Strong and Healthy Appearance. 



nous crops. After the crop is harvested I recommend, where convenient, ten tons of barnyard 

 manure to the acre broadcast and then plowed, the plowing- to lay until early spring when 

 the soil is dry enough to work to pieces, after thoroughly harrowing and the soil is tine and 

 mellow. I advise drilling 400 pounds of good commercial fertilizer to the acre about two weeks 

 before planting. The fertilizer should have a large per cent of potash, as potash is a very 

 essential part in plant growth as well as fruit. Therefore potash should not be overlooked in 

 the growing of strawberries. After the fertilizer is properly worked deep in the soil we roll 

 our land smooth and mark rows three and one-half to four feet apart, and set plants twenty 

 to thirty inches in the row. Shallow and often cultivation is necessary from two weeks after 

 plants are set until frost. The oftener the strawberry patch is worked the less the labor bill, 

 and it becomes a pleasure to work a clean patch where it seems a burden to work in a foul, 

 grassy patch. The writer knows, for he has been in both kinds. Next in order is the 



SELECTION OF PLANTS 



In the first place, there is a vast difference in plants of the same variety. Most all grow- 

 ers have no doubt noticed this point. Some plants will be productive, others moderately pro- 

 ductive and others almost barren, and, in fact, some that does never send up a fruiting bud 

 .or crown. It is the above facts that have made the selection of plants necessary. This fact 

 was not thought of in the beginning of strawberry growing in this country, and, in fact, was 

 not thought of for many, many years. And still another fact: It is practiced but very little in 

 the United States to date. There are very few nurserymen that mention the subject at all 

 and some are finding fault with the method of plant selection, I am very sorry to say, and 

 claim that there is no way on earth to improve a variety except to improve the soil conditions. 



Now my method is to select all my plants for my breeding plot, selecting only the plants 

 (that are to become the mother plants) that show extraordinary strength in crown growth. 

 These plants are set in what we call a breeding plot. The runner plants from these selected 

 plants must inherit from the parent the full strength of the parent plant. This selection is 

 carried on from year to year and instead of a variety running down it may be built up and 

 greatly improved from year to year until its productiveness has been increased even fourfold. 



I have letters on file where my selected Thoroughbred Plants have produced four times that 

 of plants with no selection (same variety tested). 



A Texas Grower says: "Your plants produced over 10,000 quarts per acre when the aver- 

 age in this section was less than 2,500 quarts of the same variety'" (.the Klondyke was the 

 variety in question). 



To any fair minded man this method of breeding and selection is plain and simple. A 

 variety may be built up, or may be run down, just as one has a choice. Taking the plants 

 from the middle of the rows year after year without any selection will certainly cause a fellow 

 not to need many pickers and his crate bill will also be light. If he follows the Twentieth Cen- 

 tury ideas, he will have to look out for more pickers, and his expenses for crates, do., will be 

 greatly increased. My Dear Growers, it is up to you. 



You may have seen the going of many good varieties, you Bay. So you have. And you can 

 see the going of them all if you practice our old methods. 



You may go get the old, run-down variety and use the up-to-date 10th Century methods 

 and bring it back to its former productiveness, and even keep on and make it more productive 

 than it was when first originated. 



You do not have to buy plants from me or any other nursery that is using the plant selection 

 breeding method, but you can do the same work if you follow my instriu tie: g 

 give them. But I wish to impress on your mind with all the power at my command: If you 



B Twenty-three 



