PRIDE or MICHIGAN IN BL,OOM. 
Just look at this eneravlng and Imagine every bloom a big red berry: that is Just what you will 
see every year. No blank bloom on the Pride of Michigan; everyone develops into a big bright red and 
perfect specimen that fills every requirement of an ideal fancy berry; just lay down and hide In the long 
green foliage and eat until your stomach says enough. But don't leave yet, you will want more in a few 
minutes: they only come once a year so eat to your satisfaction. 
OUR BREEDING PLANTS. 
Under the illu.stration of Plant Selection we 
have given the fundamental principles of plant 
breeding as carried out on our grounds. 
Young people are often admonished to se- 
cure an education and are assured it is the one 
thing that cannot be taken from them nor can 
they loose it. No statement is further from 
the truth for it is an unvarying law of nature 
that any faculty or power of body or mind 
degenerates and is lost by disuse; we must 
use or lose every talent either natural or 
acquired. While it is doing that develops, we 
must also remember that excessive doing like- 
wise causes loss of power; and this is as true 
in plant life as in animal. It overworks its 
fruit producing organism and must be re- 
strained (restricted) to the ability of its gland 
spstem to replace the parts worn out and so 
long as this is done the plant will grow 
stronger, but when you pass that line it will 
grow weaker and waste away. 
We have already explained that plants 
possess the same violent passion for breeding 
through the sexes as is possessed by animals 
and that this drained the sources of life itself 
and would eventually make the plant impotent 
or lose the ability to fruit at all. 
We propagate continuously from bearing 
plants, but they are restricted to the point 
where strength accumulates. For the purpose 
of securing'the betterment of our stock plants, 
as well as in the after multiplication , they are 
grown under the most favorable conditions 
known to the horticultural art. 
Absolutely no expense is spared which, in 
our judgment, would contribute to their bet- 
terment and yet under these favorable environ- 
ments some will improve faster than others 
and so the scale of perfection is advanced 
materially by selection. We can improve 
strawberries faster than any other perennial 
because through runners we get new creations 
every year. The illustration of our breeding 
bed was taken on September i, 1904. The first 
year we can only judge of the general appear- 
ance of the vegetative parts, which cannot be 
seen the following spring, and so after they 
have made advancement enough to show these 
qualities, those showing best are designated 
by a numbered stake and scaled by actual 
measurements. Peculiarities of foliage and 
crowns, with ni iber of apparent fruit buds 
are noted on a aeciinal scale of hundredths. ' 
In the following spring we judge their fruit- 
ing abilities. Excessive pollenation is pre- 
vented by removing two-thirds of the blos- 
som buds on each stem and the fruit is allowed 
to set and then thinned to two or three ber- 
ries to the stem. The gland system of the 
plant can only be judged by its performance— 
that is, the fruit it produces. 
The size, color, texture and form are all 
carefully noted. The question of superiority 
of the plant is not guessed at; it is a matter of 
mathematical calculation and the one showing 
the greatest number of points of excellence 
now becomes the parent of all of that variety. 
Its runner plants are transferred to a bed 
where it can be further developed and make 
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