36 
He Who Makes Three Crops of Strawberries Grow Where 
Fall Bearing Strawberry Seeds 
We saved the seeds of 100 quarts of 
the fall bearing strawberries in the sum¬ 
mer of 1912 and offered them to our 
patrons in our catalogue for 1913. These 
were the first and only genuine fall bear¬ 
ing strawberry seeds of tlie new Ameri¬ 
can kinds that have been ofTered for sale. 
The demand was good anti we sold a 
large number of packets. Only a few 
reported poor results with them and this 
was due to unfavorable conditions. Sev¬ 
eral reported very fine results. One 
party told me at the State Fair that he 
grew enough plants to supply his own 
and a neighbor with enough plants for 
a family garden. The seeds were very 
fertile; nearly every seed would grow if 
planted and treated properly. Most 
people would plant them too deeply. 
They niust be planted very shallow and 
treated much like tomato seeds and 
young plants. To test the vitality of my 
seeds and to .see what could be <lone 
with them, I gave our leading llorist. 
Strawberry seeds grow on outside of 
the Berry 
Mr. Bert Mitchell of Pulaski, N. Y., a 
packet of them to test out. lie planted 
them in his greenhouse the last of Febru¬ 
ary and picked ripe berries from some of 
the plants August 4th. This is as quick 
as tomatoes come from the seed. Mr. 
Mitchell transplanted them twice from 
the original seed bed, the last time into 
2*;^-inch pots. When the plants were 
ready to put out in the open ground, 
about June 1st, they were quite sturdy 
little plants. They started to grow* 
right along and soon begun to make new 
runners. Mr. Mitchell allowed all the 
runners to grow, and by fall he had a 
wide row of the plants that had all come 
from the seeds sown the last days of 
February. When I first read of Harlow 
Rockhill sowing seeds in window frames 
in February and picking ripe berries 
from these plants in August of the same 
year, it seemed almost incredible, but 
now I have proved that it can be done. 
They can be sown any time in the 
winter like tomato seeds and as fast as 
they crowd in the beds, we would trans¬ 
plant them farther apart, and finally into 
the open ground about June 1st. We 
would keep all the runners cut off the 
tirst year, except one or two from each 
plant, to be sure that the variety was 
not destroyed, in case a grub or some¬ 
thing destroyed the original plant. If the 
runners are allowed to grow at will, the 
])lants will not show their fruitfulness so 
l)ronounced and you will not be able to 
judge the value of the variety so accu¬ 
rately. It is impossible to detect all the 
(lualities of a new seedling the first or 
.second year, and we advise that the 
most promising of the seedlings be kept 
and tested for two or three years before 
deciding which to keep and which to 
discard. We do not advise buying these 
seeds in place of plants, as there is no 
dependence to put on the varieties. If 
you sow Ainericus seeds, it is no indica¬ 
tion that you will get Amerious plants. 
.Most every seedling will be diiTerent, it 
may be better and it may be inferior to 
its i)arent. The most of them will be 
inferior, but a few may be very prom- 
i.sing and the experiment is interesting. 
This is how new varieties of strawberries 
are originated, by sowing the seeds of 
cro.sses of two or more kinds. This year 
we save<l the seeds from nearly 200 quarts 
of berries. They are all mi.xed up, and 
come from Americus, Superb, Produc¬ 
tive, Progressive, Autumn and Francis. 
It will i)e interesting to know what 
results in the line of new varieties will 
come from these seeds. It will he pos¬ 
sible to grow new varieties your.self that 
may do better in your locality than the 
varieties already introduced. It will be 
possible for peoi>le in distant countries to 
get .seeds of us and grow new varieties of 
fall bearing strawberries when it would 
be impossible to get plants of known 
varieties because of the distiince. Dur¬ 
ing the past year, we have sent tliese 
seeds into Corea, China, Japan and many 
other foreign countries. The man or 
woman who can grow a seedling that 
will surpass the Americus, Superb and 
Francis can be assured of a fortune if 
he will handle It right. It has cost us 
nearly $5,000.00 to get our stock of 
Americus and we would be only too will¬ 
ing to pay a good price for a berry that 
would beat it. 1 wish to repeat that I do 
not advise depending on these seeds alone 
for vour supply of fall bearing straw¬ 
berry plants, they may disappoint you. 
You m.ay not be skillful enough to gel 
the seeds to grow, but certainly it is a 
pleasant and interesting experiment 
Price 25c per packet of about 500 seeds; 
5 packets for $1.00. 
Manchester. N. 11.. Oct. 27th. 1913. 
The Senator Dunlap strawberry plants arrived this 
evonintt and I Inclose check. Hope they will do as 
well aa those you sent me last spring. 
0. S. COBURX. 
San Diego. California, Dec. 22d, 1913. 
L. .1. Farmer. Pulaski, X. Y. 
Dear Sir:—fnclosed please find $1.00 for which 
please send 5 packets of Fall Bearing strawberry seeds. 
The seeds 1 got la.st spring have done so well that I 
want to continue. I have about 100 plants, very strong 
and thrifty; about half are bearing fruit. Yours truly, 
SObO.X BUY.AN. 
Floral Park. N. Y., April 3d. 1913. 
Tlie strawberry seed has germinated well and the 
plants are coming along in fine shape. 
JOIIX LEWIS CIIIUIS. 
