Report oF AcTING HORTICULTURIST OF EXPERIMENT STATION. 457 
in the spring of 1890, saying he wished reports from these 
Stations, favorable or unfavorable, before placing it on the mar- — 
ket. This past season it has fruited at these Stations, and reports 
were sent to him. He will now decide whether it has value 
enough over older varieties to warrant its introduction. If it has 
met with favorable commendations from the majority of the 
Stations, who will doubt but what those testimonials will more 
than pay for the one year of waiting while this variety was under 
test? Few horticultural workers, either amateur or professional, 
have the same advantages generally found in a well-equipped 
Experiment Station to compare new fruits with older varieties, or 
the means at their disposal to pursue a systematic line of com- 
parison as new fruits are introduced. 
The work of cross pollination of strawberries was continued last 
winter and spring with the same object in view as that of the 
season before. The seedlings resulting from the crosses made in 
1889 and 1890 show the strong individuality of several of the - 
varieties used as the mother plant, the majority of the seedling © 
plants of certain crosses being of the same habit of growth and 
general appearance as the mother plant. These seedling plants 
should bloom next season, and give a partial solution of the ques- 
tions of being able to breed either a perfect flowering or a pistil- 
late variety at will, or to breed a variety for a certain purpose. 
Since the season’s work has been completed this Station has 
been in receipt of numerous inquiries in regard to the efficacy of 
any preparation for the prevention of the potato blight, and we 
are able to say that marked success has been obtained by the use © 
of the Bordeaux mixture. At this Station a gain of forty-eight . 
bushels per acre was made by the applications of this mixture, 
and but little less by the use of ammoniacal solution. From other 
Stations come testimonials to the same effect, notably from Rhode 
Island, where practically the same results have been obtained as 
at this Station. The discussion of this matter will be found in 
the body of this report. 
The effects of spraying with fungicides for the anthracnose of 
the raspberry were not of a very satisfactory nature, and although 
it appeared that the plants sprayed with Bordeaux mixture were 
benefited to a certain extent, it is thought best to continue this 
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