678 Report or THE HortTICcULTURIST OF THE 
Over four hundred seedlings of Mr. Hunn’s crosses were 
fruited this season (1893), and sixty-one of them have been 
reserved for further testing. Several of these are too delicate in 
color or too soft in flesh for market purposes and are being tested 
simply for home use. No doubt many and perhaps all of them 
may prove no more desirable than the best kinds already in cul- 
tivation and therefore will be disca: ded. 
During the progress of this work of endeavoring to originate 
improved kinds of strawberries from seedlings of known parent- 
age it has become evident that some of the cultivated varieties 
that have been used for parents are more desirable than others 
for this purpose. The differences observed in this regard will be 
discussed more fully below. 
It is well known that cultivated strawberries are reproduced by 
means of runners* and they do not reproduce varieties true from 
seed any more than do cultivated apples or pears. For example, 
strawberry plants raised from Crescent seed do not produce 
Crescent strawberries. to far as our experience goes they do 
not produce so good fruit as the Crescent. Whenever new varie- 
ties arise, therefore, they must be obtained from seed. Possibly 
they may originate as sports from cultivated varieties but no 
instance of this kind is known to the writer. 
At present but little is known as to the comparative ability of 
the named varieties of strawberries to produce seedlings of merit. 
In the history of gardening enough has been accomplished in the - 
improvement of flowers and vegetables by selection of parents 
and by judicious crossing, to demonstrate that careful breeding © 
secures as remarkable results with plants as with animals. When 
we reflect that of the hundreds of varieties of strawberries that 
have been introduced into cultivation, the parentage of but very 
few varieties is known, the improvement of cultivated straw- 
berries does not seem beyond the realm of possibilities. If so 
great a number of good strawberries as we now have came into 
cultivation as chance seedlings, is it too much to expect that fur- 
ther improvement will reward systematic breeding ? 
Reference has been made ona previous page to the demand 
among a large class of strawberry growers for a late market berry. 
Some of the results thus far secured at this station encourage 
* Except some European varieties which are propagated by division of roots. 
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