ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES--HYBRIDIZATION
This chapter introduces us to great diversities of opinion, and to
still greater differences in experience; and I fear that I shall leave
the subject as indefinite as I find it. The scientist best versed in
botany and the laws of heredity can here find a field that would tax
his best skill for a lifetime, and yet a child may amuse himself with
raising new kinds; and it would not be impossible that, through some
lucky combination of nature, the latter might produce a variety that
would surpass the results of the learned man's labor. As in most other
activities of life, however, the probabilities are on the side of skill
and continuous effort.
We have already shown that all the seeds of the _F. Virginiana_ and _F.
Chilensis may_ produce a new variety. These seedlings often closely
resemble the parent or parents, and sometimes are practically identical
with one of them; more often they present distinct differences. It is
wholly impossible to predict the character of seedlings as they usually
are produced. If we could obtain pure specimens of the two great
species, and cross them, the element of chance would not enter into the
result so largely as must be the case when seed is gathered in our
gardens. The pedigrees of but few varieties are known, and in many
instances the two great races are so mingled that we can only guess
which element predominates, by the behavior and appearance of the
plants. The kinds with which we start are hybrids, and, as Mr. A. S.
Fuller sagaciously remarks, "Hybridizing, or crossing hybrids, is only
mixing together two compounds, the exact proportions of neither being
known." Therefore, the inevitable element of chance. Disagreeable
traits and shiftless ways of strawberry grandparents and
great-grandparents may develop themselves in a seedling produced by the
union of two first-class varieties. At the same time it is possible
that fine ancestral qualities may also assert themselves. The chance
seedling, which comes up in a garden where good varieties have been
raised, may prove a prize. The Forest Rose was found growing in a
vineyard. If we propose to raise seedlings, however, we will, of
course, select seeds from the best fruit of fine varieties, even in our
first and most rudimental efforts. Before making any serious or
prolonged attempt to originate new varieties, it would be well to
familiarize ourselves with certain principles, and gather experience
from the successes and failures of others. We have seen that the _F.
Virginiana_ is the native species of the eastern section of our
continent, and that its vigor and hardiness best adapt it to our
extremes of climate. It were best to start, therefore, with the most
vigorous strains and varieties of this hardy species. It is true that
fine results can be obtained from crossing varieties of the _F.
Chilensis_ with our native species--the President Wilder proves
this--but few of such products are adapted to the country at large, and
they will be almost sure to falter on light soils. We will achieve our
best success in developing our native species. By observation, careful
reading of the horticultural journals, and by correspondence, the
propagator can learn what varieties show vigor and productiveness
throughout a wide range of country, and in great diversities of soil
and climate. These sturdy kinds, that seem bent on doing well
everywhere, should be the robust forefathers of the strawberries of the
future. Starting with these, we are already well on the way toward the
excellence we hope to attain. The pith of our difficulty now is to make
any further advance. How can we surpass that superb group of berries
that prove their excellence year after year?
As Mr. Durand well puts it, new varieties, to be of value, should
produce berries that "measure from four to eight inches in
circumference, of good form, color and flavor; very large specimens are
not expected to be perfect in form, yet those of medium size should
always be. The calyx should never be imbedded in the flesh, which
should be sufficiently firm to carry well, and withstand all changes of
our variable climate. The texture should be fine, flesh rich, with a
moderate amount of acid--no more than just sufficient to make it
palatable with sugar as a table berry. The plant should be hardy,
vigorous, large, and strong; of great endurance as to climatic change,
and able to stand any amount of manure of the right kind. It should be
a prolific bearer, with stalks of sufficient length to keep the fruit
out of the dirt, and bear its berries of nearly uniform size to the
end. Any serious departure from such necessary qualities would be fatal
to any new variety."
What is the use of spending time on varieties that do not possess these
good qualities, or many of them, so pre-eminently that they supersede
those already in our gardens? Shall I root out the Charles Downing,
Seth Boyden, and Monarch, and replace them with inferior kinds because
they are new? That is what we have been doing too extensively. But if,
in very truth, varieties can be originated that do surpass the best we
now have, then both common-sense and self-interest should lead to their
general cultivation. I believe that honest and intelligent effort can
secure a continued advance in excellence which will probably be slow,
but may be sure.
The public, however, will suffer many disappointments, and every year
will buy thousands of some extravagantly praised and high-priced new
variety, in hope of obtaining the ideal strawberry; and they so often
get a good thing among the blanks that they seem disposed to continue
indefinitely this mild form of speculation. In the final result merit
asserts itself, and there is a survival of the fittest. The process of
winnowing the wheat from the chaff is a costly one to many, however, I
have paid hundreds of dollars for varieties that I now regard as little
better than weeds. From thorough knowledge of the best kinds already in
cultivation, the propagator should not impose any second-rate kind on
the public. And yet the public, or the law which the public sustains,
renders this duty difficult. If a man invents a peculiar nutmeg-grater,
his patent protects him; but if he discovers, or originates, a fruit
that enriches the world, any one who can get it, by fair means or foul,
may propagate and sell to all. To reap any advantages, the originator
must put his seedling, which may have cost him years of effort, into
the market before it is fully and widely tested. If he sends it for
trial to other localities, there is much danger of its falling into
improper hands. The variety may do splendidly in its native garden, and
yet not be adapted to general cultivation. This fact, which might have
been learned by trial throughout the country before being sent out, if
there was protective law, is learned afterward, to the cost of the
majority who buy. In view of the above considerations, it is doubtful
whether the pecuniary reward will often repay for the time, trouble,
and expense which is usually required to produce a variety worthy of
general introduction. Other motives than money must actuate. As Mr.
Durand once said, when so perplexed by the difficulties and
complications of his labor, and so disheartened by the results that he
was inclined to throw down the burden, "There is a fascination that
binds me still." In other words, he was engaged in one of the divinest
forms of alchemy.
Having procured the vigorous stock from which we hope to obtain still
stronger and more productive varieties, we may go to work several ways.
We may plant our choice varieties in close proximity, and let the bees
and summer gales do the hybridizing. It will be remembered that the
organs of procreation in the perfect strawberry blossom are the pistils
on the convex receptacle and the encircling stamens. The anthers of the
latter produce a golden powder, so light that it will float on a summer
breeze, and so fine that insects dust themselves with it and carry it
long distances. When this dust, which is called pollen, comes in
contact with the stigma of a pistil, it imparts the power of
development both to the seed and that which sustains it--the receptacle
which is eventually transformed into the juicy pulp. If the pistils are
not fertilized, there will be no strawberries, as well as no seeds.
Perfect-flowering varieties, therefore, are self-fertilizing. There are
stamens and pistils in the same flower, and the pollen from the former
impregnates the latter. In view of this fact, the probabilities are all
against success in obtaining an improved variety. While the pollen
_may_ pass from one perfect-flowering kind to another, and produce a
seed which will give a new combination, the chances of
self-fertilization, and that, in consequence, the seeds will produce
degenerate and somewhat varying counterparts of the parent, are so
great that it is a waste of time to plant them. There is little to be
hoped, therefore, from the seed of perfect-flowering kinds left to
nature's influences.
In this country, we have pistillate varieties, or those that are wholly
destitute of stamens. Mr. Fuller says that, for some reason, they do
not originate abroad. It is obvious that, with these pistillates, we
can attain a direct cross with some staminate or perfect-flowering
variety; but if our pistillates grow openly in the garden, near several
staminates, the seeds sown may have been fertilized by the poorest of
them, or by pollen from wild strawberries, brought by the wind or
insects. It is all haphazard work, and we can only guess at the
parentage of the seedlings. There is no skilful combination of good
qualities, such as the stock farmer makes when he mingles good blood.
Gathering the seed, therefore, in our gardens, even under the most
favorable auspices, is the veriest game of hazard, with nearly all the
chances against us; and yet superb varieties are occasionally procured
in this way. Indeed, as we have seen, they sometimes come up
themselves, and assert their merit wholly unaided. By such methods,
however, the propagator has not one chance in thousands, as much
experience shows.
We are, therefore, led to isolate our plants, and to seek intelligently
and definitely to unite the good qualities of two distinct varieties.
If they have no pistillate plants abroad, they must remove all the
stamens from some perfect flower before they are sufficiently developed
to shed their pollen, and then fertilize the pistils with the stamens
of the other variety whose qualities they wish to enter into the
combination. There is no need of our doing this, for it involves much
trouble and care at best, and then we are always haunted by the fear
that the stamens were not removed in time, or so completely as to
prevent self-fertilization. With such pistillate varieties as the
Golden Defiance, Champion, Spring-dale, and Crescent, we have as robust
motherhood as we require.
In order to present to the reader the most approved systems of
hybridization, I will give the methods of two gentlemen who are among
the best known in relation to this subject.
The late Mr. Seth Boyden won world-wide celebrity by his success, and
the berry named after him will perpetuate his memory for many years to
come. When grown under the proper conditions, it presents a type of
excellence still unsurpassed.
Mr. Boyden's neighbor, Mr. Ogden Brown, of Hilton, N. J., writes to me
as follows:
"My method of raising seedlings is the one practiced by Mr. Boyden. In
August I set the plants from which I wish to secure new combinations in
a plot of ground the size of my glass frame, and in early spring set
the frame over them, so that the plants may blossom before any others.
Thus, no mixture from the pollen of outside plants can take place, for
none are in bloom save those in the frame. The plants within the frame
are two or three pistillate plants, all of one good variety like the
Champion; and three or four superior, perfect-flowering kinds, any one
of which, I think, will make a good combination with the pistillate
variety. The seeds from the pistillate only are used, and when the
fruit is ripened, these seeds are slightly dried and placed between two
pieces of ice for about two weeks. I then put them in pure sand,
wrapped up in a wet rag, and keep them sufficiently near the fire to
preserve constant warmth until the germs are ready to burst forth. I
then sow the seeds in a bed of finely riddled rich earth, and cover
with boards about six inches from the soil. This is to prevent the sun
from drying the ground. Plants thus raised will be sufficiently large
to set in the fruiting-bed in September. In the fifteen years that I
was acquainted with Mr. Boyden, I never knew him to fail in raising
fruit from these plants the following summer. I do not know that Mr.
Boyden's method has been improved upon."
Mr. J. M. Merrick, Jr., recommends this same isolation of the
pistillate plant under glass.
It should be distinctly understood that while several perfect-flowering
plants may be placed under the sash with a pistillate, the pollen of
only one of these can fertilize a pistil. Mixing pollen from different
kinds will never produce in a seedling the qualities of three or more
varieties. The seedling is the product of two kinds only. Inclosing the
plants in a frame ensures that all the pistils are fertilized by one or
the other of the perfect-flowered varieties that are so fine as to
promise a better combination of excellence than yet exists. The
appearance of the seedling will probably show which of the kinds formed
the combination, but often there would be uncertainty on this point, I
think.
Mr. E. W. Durand, who sent out the Black Defiance, Great American,
Beauty, Pioneer, and several others, claims that the "true method is to
propagate by pairs, each parent possessing certain distinctive
features." "My course," he writes, in a paper read before the N. J.
State Horticultural Society, "is to select my pistillates after years
of trial, subject them to severe tests, and place alongside of each
such a staminate as I think will harmonize and produce a certain
desired effect. Another pistillate plant, of the same variety, is
placed far away from the last, with a different staminate, and so on,
till I exhaust the staminates or perfect-flowering kinds that I wish to
test with that pistillate variety. Of late years, I have used but two
or three kinds of pistillate plants, and they are a combination of
excellence. I never show them to my most intimate friends, and the
public know nothing about them. The years of trial and experiment
necessary to produce such plants must necessarily discourage a
beginner; yet it is the only course that will lead to success."
I think that Mr. Durand takes too gloomy a view of the subject, and I
can see no reason why any one starting with such pistillates as the
Golden Defiance, Champion, and others, may not originate a variety
superior to any now in existence. At the same time, I must caution
against over-sanguine hopes. Mr. Durand states the interesting fact
that he generally produces 3,000 new varieties annually, and including
the year 1876, he had already originated about 50,000 seedlings. While
some of these have already secured great celebrity, like the Great
American, I do not know of one that promises to maintain a continued
and national popularity. I regard his old Black Defiance and the later
Pioneer as his best seedlings, so far as I have seen them. Very many
others do not have even his success. We may have to experiment for
years before we obtain a seedling worth preserving; nevertheless, in
the heart of each propagator lurks the hope that he may draw the prize
of prizes.
I will close this chapter with a few simple and practical suggestions.
It is not necessary to place the seeds in ice. They may be sown in
July, in rich soil, rendered fine and mellow, and in a half-shady
position; and the surface should be kept moist by watering, and a
sprinkling of a little very fine compost, that will prevent the ground
from baking. Some of the seeds will germinate that season, more will
come up the following spring. Or, they may be started in a cold frame
under glass, and hastened in their growth so that good-sized plants are
ready for the fruiting-bed by September. Mr. Durand plants his seed in
the spring, and the seedlings bear the following year. The plants
should be set eighteen inches apart each way in the fruiting-bed. When
they blossom, note and mark all the pistillates as such. Those that
grow feebly, and whose foliage scalds or burns in the sun, root out at
once. The Spartan law of death to the feeble and deformed should be
rigorously enforced in the fruit garden. The first year of fruiting
will satisfy you that the majority of seedlings are to be thrown away.
Those that give special promise should be lifted with a large ball of
earth, and planted where they may be kept pure from mixture, and given
further trial. Remember that a seedling may do better the first year
than ever after, and that only a continued and varied trial can prove
its worth. All runners should be kept off, unless the ground is
infested with grubs, and there is danger of losing a promising variety
of which we have but one specimen. If so fortunate as to raise superior
seedlings, test them side by side, and under the same conditions with
the best kinds in existence, before calling to them public attention.
Try them, also, in light and heavy soils; and, if possible, send them
to trusted friends who will subject them to varied climates in widely
separated localities. If, however, you find them vigorous and
productive on the light, poor soil of your own place, you may hope much
for them elsewhere. No berry will be generally popular that requires
much petting. I only state this as a fact. In my opinion, some
varieties are so superb in size and flavor that they deserve high
culture, and well repay it.
It is a question whether, except for the purposes of propagation,
pistillate varieties should be preserved and sent out. Mr. Fuller and
others take ground against them, and their views are entitled to great
respect, but with such kinds as the Golden Defiance and Champion in my
garden, I am not prepared to condemn them. One objection urged against
them is that many purchase a single variety, and, should it prove a
pistillate, they would have no fruit. They would not deserve any, if
they gave the subject so little attention. Every fruit catalogue states
which are pistillates, and their need of a perfect-flowering kind near
them. Again, it is urged that this necessary proximity of two kinds
leads to mixtures. It need not, and, with the plant grower, can only
result from gross carelessness. The different beds may be yards apart.
In order to secure thorough fertilization, it is not at all necessary
to plant so near that the two kinds can run together. In a large field
of pistillates, every tenth row should be of a staminate, blossoming at
the same time with the pistillate. The Kentucky seedling is a
first-class staminate, but it should not be used to fertilize the
Crescent, since the latter would almost be out of bloom before the
former began to blossom. Plant early pistillates with early staminates,
and late with late.
Many ask me: "Do strawberries mix by being planted near each other?"
They mix only by running together, so that you can scarcely distinguish
the two kinds; but a Wilson plant will produce Wilson runners to the
end of time; and were one plant surrounded by a million other
varieties, it would still maintain the Wilson characteristics. It is
through the seeds, and seeds only, that one variety has any appreciable
effect upon another. Many have confused ideas on this point.
A man brought to the Centennial Exhibition, at Philadelphia, a pot of
strawberries that attracted great attention, for the fruit was
magnificent. I suggested to him that it resembled the Jucunda, and he
said that it was a cross between that berry and the Seth Boyden. This
was a combination that promised so well that I went twenty miles, on a
very hot day, to see his bed, and found that the crossing was simply
the interlacing of the runners of the two distinct varieties, and that
I could tell the intermingled Jucunda and Boyden plants apart at a
glance. Such crossing would make no marked change in varieties if
continued for centuries.
The enemies and diseases of the strawberry will be grouped in a general
chapter on these subjects.