Nature's Priceless Gifts 
to the big, round generous Earth itself, Nature's most 
priceless gifts to Man are plants and seeds. Because 
diamonds are brilliant in their manifold and lustrous col- 
orings, the love of beauty and of display that inheres in 
human nature creates an almost universal desire to possess 
them; because gold is the insignia of wealth and power of 
possession, mankind is greedy to have it in abundance. But 
diamonds and gold are as dross when compared with seeds and 
plants. All the diamonds and gold in the world could not make 
a man's breakfast, and though he had them piled up like moun- 
tains, yet had none of the food that plants and seeds develop for his 
daily use in countless ways, life would be impossible, and human and 
animal alike would perish from the earth. 
And so, in order that there shall be no possibility of such a catastrophe, prodigal Nature 
has given to us such ample quantities and such an infinitude of varieties of vegetable life, 
all species of which are so marvelously fortified against destruction or extermination, as to in- 
sure their perpetuity so long as soil and rain and sunshine shall endure. The seeds of a 
single tree are plentiful enough to re-create a vast forest of its kind. Some single plants 
are found to contain more than one hundred thousand seeds. Such is the extraordinary 
provision of Nature to the end that man and his animal friends always shall have an ample 
supply of food and shelter if the simple laws of being and growth be observed. 
But prodigal as Nature has been in her gifts, she has left much to inspire the energy 
and intelligence of Man in the direction of improvement, and today we are witnessing a mar- 
velous advance in the development of plant life of all kinds, considered from the viewpoints 
of both quantity and quality. Grains and vegetables and fruits have shown themselves to 
be quite as amenable to the influence of breeding as are the products of the animal king- 
dom. Selection and restriction exhibit the same power when applied to tree and vine and 
plant and seed as when employed for the betterment of livestock. It is the law of all life 
that this shall be so. Therefore, all may be confident of like results when this law is faith- 
fully and intelligently practiced. 
For thirty years the R. M. Kellogg Company has represented the highest standards of 
success in the direction of strawberry plant improvement. The work begun in 1884 by the 
founder of this company has been carried on with increasing enthusiasm and energy during 
the last three decades, and the farm at Three Rivers which Mr. Kellogg purchased in 1896, 
consisting of about ninety acres, has grown into an institution, famous alike in the United 
States, in Europe and in Asia, for the quality of its products, requiring 225 acres to grow 
the plants for the filling of its orders, not to mention the large branch farms of the com- 
pany located respectively at Twin Falls, Idaho, and Canby, Oregon. The combined product 
of these two branch farms in 1913 exceeded the total product of the company ten years ago. 
Not only has this company created a new interest and greater confidence in the straw- 
berry world through the development of varieties that insure big yields of big red straw- 
berries. It also has won a reputation through its free service bureau for giving such aid 
and counsel as to insure the complete success of all growers who follow the instructions and 
advice so freely given. This bureau has been organized for the benefit of "Kellogg" cus- 
tomers. They are free at any time to call upon us for aid when in doubt as to the proper 
course to pursue; and every year thousands of customers do so. The letters that come to 
us expressing thanks and gratitude for such assistance as we have been able to render is a 
suflficient return for our efforts in that direction. Many are kind enough to say that they 
attribute their entire success to the advice and instruction we have sent them. Here is a 
typical instance: "Your reply to my letter came just at the critical moment, and I thank 
you for your promptness in sending me the very clear instructions you have. It gave me 
exactly what I needed to know in order to insure success. Another company from whom 
I purchased plants did not even deign to recognize my letter asking for information. Your 
company's interest in its customers does not cease when the plants are paid for." 
And here is another letter — a fair specimen of hundreds that come to us every season 
— showing how Kellogg plants bring prosperity to the grower; how homes are created and 
paid for from the results secured in the strawberry field, and how an independent and per- 
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