Narrative
Although a few crosses were made in 1928-1929 and a few hundred seedlings grown, practically all of the strawberry breeding in Scotland is the work of one man, Robert D. Reid. In 1930 at the West of Scotland Agricultural College at Auchincruive, Reid began his work on the diseases of strawberries. This work was made a part of the Scottish Horticultural Research Institute in 1951. When Reid began his work, a root trouble, which had been first recorded in the Clyde Valley in 1921, was becoming widespread and it was identified as the fungus disease, red core, caused by Phytophthora fragariae. In a test of varieties, one was found to be resistant to the disease. This little-known variety named Frith had been found in 1918 as a strawberry seedling at Cudham, in Kent, near a Royal Sovereign field and where Givon's Prolific was said to have been grown. In 1933 Reid began systematic crossing with it as one parent to obtain more desirable resistant varieties. His selections -- Auchincruive 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 -- were planted in infected soil in 1934 and remained free of the disease until 1939 when slight infection was found. In 1938 A.M. Sutherland joined Reid and has assisted him since. In 1941 there was a collapse of selected resistant plants in two fields. In later years similar breakdowns of resistance occurred in other kinds. following their selection for resistance, indicating the appearance of new races of the fungus to which the selections were not resistant. Up to 1948, the numbered Auchincruive selections were the mainstay of the Scottish industry. In 1938 the Aberdeen was imported from America and in 1939 a cross of TD-8 [CC-6 O.P. (Frith O.P.)] x Aberdeen was made and seedlings grown, from which the Auchincruive Climax was selected. It was introduced in 1947 for its resistance to red stele and its other good qualities. Reid found the qualities of the Aberdeen to complement those of Frith. Auchincruive Climax was a remarkable variety, large in size, attractive, high-flavored, productive, late, tolerant of virus diseases, and producing a large second crop in late summer and fall in northern Europe. It quickly became the principal variety of Great Britain and was extensively raised in northern Europe, also in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. In Scotland it stayed relatively free of red core, but in its first test in the United States it was completely susceptible, not being resistant to American strains of the red stele fungus. Unfortunately, it showed some June yellows in 1950 and by 1954 nearly every plant in all fields showed this variegation. With Auchincruive Climax, crop yields reduced rapidly and non-yellowing stocks were not found as they had been with Howard 17 (Premier) and Blakemore in America, and Madame Moutot in Holland. As Auchincruive Climax began to fail, Reid was already testing selections from his later breeding. Talisman, raised in 1946, was named in 1955 and Redgauntlet in 1956-1957, both from the same cross. Both are resistant to some strains of red core, but Talisman to more strains than Redgauntlet; both are mid-season to late, firm-fleshed, and very productive. In 1964 another resistant variety, the Templar, was introduced. Talisman is of medium size, has high flavor, is difficult to cap, susceptible to Botrytis, resistant to Verticillium wilt, and mildew. Runners come freely. It is liked in Holland, France, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. - George Darrow. 1966. The Strawberry