TRUE-TONAME STRAWBERRY PLANTS 



"Pedigreed" Strawberry Plants 



The question of "pedigree" has been before the public 

 for several years but there are some growers who do 

 not clearly understand just what the term implies and 

 whether pedigree plants are more valuable than plants 

 from other reliable nurserymen. 



Those who advertise and sell "thoroughbred" and 

 "pedigreed" plants do not tell us what pedigree is and 

 how they pedigree their plants, but mislead the public 

 by an indiscriminate use of such terms as breeding and 

 selection, and drawing a false analogy between the value 

 of selecting and breeding animals and that of plants 

 propagated by runners, layers, cuttings, and grafts. 



"The word 'pedigree' has come to be used with refer- 

 ence to plants in a sense which conveys a meaning that 

 is altogether untruthful. An animal with a pedigree is 

 one having a known ancestry. The parentage on both 

 sides must be known for one or more generations. The 

 value of a pedigree consists not in its length, merely, 

 but in the character of the parentage. 



"A pedigree in the case of a variety of plants propa- 

 gated from seeds, as in the case of vegetables or grains. 

 might have great value. Any variety of plants which 

 is propagated by means of cuttings, layers, runners, 

 grafts, or by any method of division may have a pedi- 

 gree also, but its value would not be enhanced thereby. 

 In the case of varieties of plants which are propagated 

 from seeds the type is fixed and held by selection, and 

 the more careful the selection, or in other words the 

 better the pedigree, the more firmly the type becomes 

 fixed and the better the variety. With plants which are 

 propagated by division selection has nothing to do 

 with the fixedness of the variety. Plants of this class 

 are more firmly fixed by nature as to type than are 

 those which are propagated from seeds. We must not 

 regard any class of plants as absolutely fixed and 

 unchangeable, for the tendency to vary, or sport, 

 is manifest in all. 



"To secure a variety of Strawberry with a pedigree, 

 two varieties must be crossed when in bloom. This 

 process may be continued with the progeny, indefinitely, 

 and if a record is kept of the parentage the result is a 

 variety with a pedigree. The mere selection of plants 

 of a variety, without regard to both male and female 

 parents, does not establish a pedigree. A pedigreed 

 variety can only be established by growing plants from 

 seed, and a seedling with a pedigree of the class of 

 plants which are propagated by division is no better 

 than one without, because the good qualities of the 

 ancestors may, or may not. be transmitted. There is 

 nothing in a pedigree of plants of this class which will 

 help to fix and hold the type as with plants grown from 

 seed, nor does a pedigree in the case of such plants 

 insure a better performance. The conclusion then is 

 warranted that the so-called pedigreed Strawberrv 

 plants which are said to have been produced by selec- 

 tion are not pedigreed plants at all, and that real 

 pedigreed Strawberry plants have no # value above those 

 without pedigree. The word 'pedigree' as it is used 

 with reference to Strawberry plants is a misnomer. 

 It tends to confusion in the minds of many and leads 

 to deception. 



"The word is used out of its true sense to convey the 

 belief that a condition exists which does not and can- 

 not exist, or, if it could exist, would have no value. A 

 sport may occur in a variery of Strawberry, as well as 

 any other class of plants. When such a sport occurs it 

 really constitutes a new variety and may be propagated 

 by division, but it is in no sense a pedigree plant. 



"The Experiment Station has put some of these 

 so-called pedigree Strawberry plants to the test and 

 they have been found wanting. Xot one has shown 

 any superiority over the same variety from other 

 sources." (Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 

 Bulletin 166.) 



We all know that many standard varieties of Straw- 

 berries, as the Chesapeake. Glen Mary, etc., are chance 

 seedlings of unknown parentage, and hence cannot pos- 

 sibly be pedigreed in any sense of the word. However, 

 these varieties can be found offered for sale by those 

 who claim to sell only pedigreed plants. As before 

 stated, the mere selection of plants of a variety, with- 



out regard to both male and female parents, does not 

 establish a pedigree. We select our plants when plant- 

 ing in our nursery and also before shipping to a cus- 

 tomer. We discard all weak, poorly rooted, and im- 

 mature plants, and plant and ship only those that are 

 strong, healthy, vigorous, and well rooted, which will 

 grow well and produce large crops of fruit, if given 

 proper care. This is the only kind of selection of Straw- 

 berry plants that experiments, carefully conducted by 

 experiment stations and by practical growers, have 

 justified. 



We believe that better Strawberries can be produced 

 by the introduction of new varieties, showing superior 

 characteristics, either chance seedlings (as the Chesa- 

 peake, Glen Mary, Hustler, etc.) or varieties produced 

 by scientific breeding from seed (as the Early Jersey 

 Giant, Progressive, Early Ozark, Paul Jones, etc.). 

 More and better berries can be grown also by using 

 strong, healthy, true-to-name plants of the varieties 

 we already have and growing them under more favora- 

 ble conditions — richer soil, more manure, better care. 



Assuming that it is possible to pedigree Strawberry 

 plants, the fact that a plant is pedigreed would mean 

 nothing in itself. A poor, weakly producing plant 

 could have as much of a pedigree as a strong, vigorous 

 one. It is performance and not "pedigree" that is 

 important. If plants not claimed to be pedigreed show 

 up better, or even as good in experiments and test 

 plots, as plants claimed to be "pedigreed," of what 

 value is the pedigree? This has been true at the experi- 

 ment stations and with many Strawberry-growers. 



Bulletin No. 177 (1914) of the Missouri Station states 

 that recent experiments carried on for 12 years have 

 failed to prove the value of pedigreed Strawberry plants. 



Circular Xo. 31 of the Xew York (Geneva) Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station says: "Pedigreed plants 

 are supposed to inherit from their ancestors desirable 

 characters, which have become fixed and which are 

 repeated without change year after year. This has not 

 been proven to be true however, and it is not advisable 

 to invest in such plants." 



We herewith present statements of practical growers 

 who have tested for themselves the value of pedigreed 

 plants. Mr. Wm. McCutchan, of Hennepin County, 

 Minnesota, in a letter to us says: "I have tried the so- 

 called pedigreed plants right along side by side with 

 your plants and in every instance the plants purchased 

 from you were equal, if not superior, to the 'pedigreed' 

 plants. I, for one, have come to a realization that 

 plant-purchasers pay an exorbitant price for the above 

 name attached to their plants. I expect to order more 

 plants for spring setting and The W. F. Allen Co. 

 plants are as good as the best for me." 



Mr. Harry C. King, of Lake County, Ohio, says: 

 "You might be interested to know that when I ordered 



of you, I had been reading 's catalog and so 



ordered 1,000 Dunlap of them and some others to com- 

 pare. Your Dunlaps, planted by the side, were better 

 plants, grew better and bore more fruit than the 

 'pedigreed' stock. Want no more 'pedigreed' stock. 

 They cost a lot more too." 



Even if Strawberry plants could be pedigreed, why 

 buy them if they are not as good as plants, true to 

 name, strong, well rooted, healthy and vigorous, grown 

 by some reliable up-to-date nurseryman? We have no 

 doubt that the so-called pedigreed plants, if grown 

 under favorable conditions and handled properly will 

 produce a good crop of berries, but it would be due to 

 the fact that they were good healthy Strawberry plants 

 and not to the fact that they had any such name as 

 "pedigree" or "thoroughbred" attached to them. 



We are sure that, with the same variety, properly 

 planted at the right season, under identical conditions 

 and given the same care and attention, any of our varie- 

 ties of strong, healthy, vigorous, true-to-name plants 

 will show up as well as any so-called "pedigreed" plants. 

 If you don't use our plants already, give us half your 

 order this year. All we want is a chance to prove that 

 you get more for your money with our plants than with 

 any so-called "pedigreed" plants you can buy. 



