do not tend to change. Whether they
could be improved by taking scions from only the most productive trees
is still a question. There are some who consider this possible, but we
do not yet have enough experimental evidence to establish it as a fact.
So far it would seem that about the only crop which is propagated
asexually that is likely to deteriorate, or is capable of improvement,
is one that is directly modified by soil and climate.

The potato is the most striking example of this class of crops. It is
well known that the potato responds very readily in the matter of size,
yield and quality to certain types of soil and climatic conditions. It
is also known that the qualities thus acquired seem to be more or less
permanent; that is, that potatoes brought from the north, especially
those which have been grown in heavy soil, will produce a crop some ten
days earlier and thirty per cent larger than a crop grown from seed
produced in a region six hundred miles farther south. Early Ohio
potatoes grown in North Dakota, when used for seed in southern Iowa,
give a much larger and somewhat earlier crop than the native grown seed.
This would indicate that the potato is bound to run out in a measure if
grown continually in southern latitudes, and in this instance a change
of seed, using always the seed from the northern latitudes and the
heavier soil, is necessary, in order to keep the variety up to standard.

[Illustration: Carnege library and flower beds at N.D. Agricultural
College, Fargo.]

It will be seen that while there is no question as to the fact of
varieties running out, that they differ a great deal in this respect,
and it is only through a knowledge of the facts covering each variety,
or at least the varieties of each species, that would enable a grower to
know what to do in order to keep a variety up to the highest standard.

Mr. Kellogg: What is the matter with the old Wilson strawberry?

Mr. Waldron: I think people forgot about it and began growing better
varieties. I know there is an impression among strawberry growers that
the Wilson strawberry has run out. I don't know. I know it has been
supplanted by other varieties, and the general impression of most men is
that it is because other varieties, better varieties, came in and that
variety was neglected.

Mr. Kellogg: It can be found in eastern catalogs now.

Mr. Waldron: Isn't it as good now as it was?

Mr. Kellogg: That is what I want to know.

Mr.