R. M. KELLOOO'S QREAT CROPS OF 
ferred to a special propag-ating- bed pre- 
viously prepared for the purpose, where they 
are allowed to make runuers for next year's 
plauting'. 
A test. If you desire to test the correct- 
ness of this theory as to seeds producing- 
exhaustion, take two cucumber vines; on 
one pick off the young- cucumbers as soon 
as set and before seeds begin to form. New 
flowers will appear and vine continue to bear 
till killed by frost. On the other plant pick 
no young cucumliers, but allow all to ripen 
and as soon as seeds begin to form no new 
blossoms will appear and the vine will turn 
yellow and die of sheer exhaustion from its 
effort to brinff so many seeds to maturity. 
It is well known among florists that to pick 
all flowers before they go to seed will in- 
duce new bloom to start, all going- to prove 
that seed formation is the great devitalizing 
process we are to guard against. 
Boiling' down what has 
been said in the previous 
pages, we have the follow- 
ing propositions: 
I. Liike besots like 
in plants as well as in ani- 
mals. 
II. That two sorul)s 
whether of animals or 
plants cannot beget a thor- 
oughbred; that the weak- 
ness or disease of the 
mother plant is found in its runners which 
form the new plants and impair their fruit- 
ing ability. 
III. Only plants of absolute perlee- 
tiou should be taken for purposes of pro- 
pagating. By annually throwing out all 
weaklings we secure perfect health, great 
uniformity in size, quality and fruiting 
vigor. 
IV. That unrestrietert pollen bear- 
in}? in the male plant produces impotency 
and is the leading cause of failure in devel- 
oping fruit. 
V. That .1 plant taken from a pert- 
iS'ree plant possesses its good qualities in 
as high degree as the offspring of thorough- 
bred animals. 
VI. That having attained this liish 
degree of fruitiiifj power, we can keep 
it up by taking all plants from a propagat- 
ing bed set the year previous and removing 
blossoms before they weaken themselves by 
heavy secretions of pollen. 
VII. That after a field has produced 
a heavy crop of berries its fruiting vigor 
is so impaired that plants should never be 
taken from it to start -a new bed. 
The propagating- bed requires only a 
small plat of moderately rich ground; the 
size of plat depending on the number of 
plants required for setting the following 
spring. Manuring, plowing, etc., should be 
done as explained in succeeding chapters. 
To start with procure pure pedigree plants 
to set the required number you wish. As 
soon as runners start, layer them by putting 
on a little stone, or bury shallow by putting 
a little moist earth on them so that they will 
quickly root and relieve the mother plant, 
causing it to send out other runners and 
occupy all the ground. Grow all your plants 
in this way. Never take plants indiscrimi- 
nately from the edges of rows. They are 
tips and poor in vitality. 
The Eppinc. 
WILL IT PAY? 
It will be well now to figure up whether it 
will pay to put on this extra work and use 
thoroughbred plants. Let us make some 
rough estimates and get some data that will 
enable us to determine the difference. It is 
not to be expected that we can control all 
the elements— frosts and storms—and yet 
we can guard against them by proper tillage 
so as to produce quite uniform results. 
My farm was established in 1H69, and while 
some seasons have been a little below that 
of others we have never had an unprofitable 
year. If in your particular location and en- 
vironment you might not meet with the 
Till-: Princess. 
same success attained here you can reason- 
ably expect to approach it very closely. 
On strawberry crops we rarely go below 
three hundred bushels per acre and have ex- 
ceeded five hundred bushels. About one 
hundred and fifty bushels of raspberries and 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred bush- 
els of blackberries per acre. Understand 
