GREAT CROPS OF STRAWBERRIES AND HOW TO GROW THEM 
R. M. Kellogg Co., Three Rivers, Mich. 
13 
PROPER MATING OF VARIETIES 
T^HIS illustration represents our method of mating: the pistillate varieties. The row of bloom on the left is of an extra-early 
bisexual. The three rows in the center represent an early pistillate. The row to the right is a mid-season bisexual. You 
will note that the flowers in the row to the left are all open. At this stage the anthers ripen and burst, from which comes the 
pollen that insures perfect berries with the pistillates. The pollen from this first row will furnish pollen to properly mate the 
bloom of the pistillates which are equally developed. The row of bisexual flowers to the riffht are just opening, and they will 
be fully matured at the time the pistillate flowers which are just opening will be ready to receive the pollen. Thus you will see 
why we advocate setting a pistillate in rows between two bisexuals, one a little earlier and the other a little later, and we feel 
confident that this illustration will make our method so plain that you will fully understand it. 
cent, of them; in fact, we doubt if there is 
a vacant place in the entire one hundred and 
ten acres. 
The Proper Mating of Plants 
THE greatest disappointment that the 
strawberry grower suffers arises from 
the fact that varieties of plants he has 
secured from ignorant or careless nursery- 
men are not properly mated. This is bound 
to result in the production of small, knotty, 
ill-formed and ill-flavored fruit. It always 
has been the Kellogg Company's rule to ex- 
amine each order that comes for plants, and 
if the customer has not ordered varieties 
that will mate well together, we write call- 
ing attention to the fact that a proper selec- 
tion has not been made and make suggestions 
as to varieties they should have in order to 
insure proper pollenization; and in doing this 
we almost invariably find that the customer 
does not understand that different varieties 
of strawberry plants were respectively male 
and female and must be mated if success is 
to be had. Through a series of experiments 
we have found that pistillates are entirely 
too valuable to discard, and when they are 
properly mated they will as a rule produce 
more berries of better quality than bisexuals. 
In mating, the pistillate should be set in rows 
between two bisexual varieties of different 
seasons, one a little earlier and the other a 
trifle later than the pistillate. As soon as the 
pistillate flower opens, the pistils become re- 
ceptive, and as soon as the bisexual flower is 
opened fully the anthers mature and burst, 
thus fui-nishing plenty of pollen grains to be 
carried by the wind or winged insects to the 
pistillate flower. Should one of these flowers 
open in advance of the other, you will readily 
see that the result would not be satisfactory. 
This verifies our method of mating as be- 
ing the only correct one. Experiments have 
proved that plants must be strong in their 
fruit-producing organism and that they must 
be free from every taint of weakness caused 
either by pollen exhaustion or seed produc- 
tion if they are to produce flowers with largely 
developed anthers, full of rich pollen grains. 
This is a claim we make for the Kellogg 
strain of plants: they surpass all others in 
