The Wilson Strawberry. 47 



PRODUCTIVENESS. 



The same statement as above may be made relative to the productiveness 

 of the plant. In the long, long ago, when our eyes first read a notice of the 

 berry, in an Albany paper, an order for plants was forwarded, filled, and the 

 plants transplanted into a sandy pi'airie soil near Lisbon, Illinois; and by 

 special care they and their oflfspring produced, in fourteen months from the 

 planting, 62^ pounds per square rod, or at the rate of 10,000 pounds per acre, 

 by actual weight! Strawberries were then sold, as they and all other fruit 

 should l)€., by weight. This crop, however, Avas but a few pounds in excess of 

 that of Russell's Prolific and Bufialo Seedling, tested at the same time. Since 

 that time, at least a half dozen varieties have surpassed these in amount of 

 berries produced. It is quite possible to find soils and localities in which,^ 

 even yet, the Wilson may be made to produce a crop equal to or surpassing 

 this. Yet the general deterioration of the variety, in both vigor, or tenacity 

 of life and productiveness, is plainly to be seen by careful and extensive ob- 

 servation, on nine-tenths of the plantations. 



FLAVOR OF BERRY. 



A satisfactory conclusion to this point in the problem can not be reached 

 by reason or argument, for the reason just stated. The Wilson strawberry,, 

 like the Clinton grape, has, before full maturity, an amount of acid in its 

 juices far in excess of nearly all other varieties of its species; but when al- 

 lowed to fully ripen upon the vines it becomes a rich fruit. But our ques- 

 tion will not admit of taking the fact of its final good quality into the account, 

 unless it can be placed in the market and reach the tables of the consumers 

 with this good quality intact. Upon this point a few quotations from the 

 most eminent horticulturists of the West will certainly come in place. 



President Lyon, of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, said, in 1881 ::. 

 "The advertisement for the Wilson is, that it gets its color early, before get- 

 ting anywhere near ripe, and thus can be put upon the market in a firm 

 state, even although when thus thrown upon the market in its half-ripe con- 

 dition it is hardly fit to eat." 



Dr. John A. Warder, of Ohio, said, in the hearing of the writer: " I have 

 never eaten a decent Wilson yet." 



Hon. G. C. Lamphere, of Galesburg, Illinois, thus wrote in a report to a 

 horticultural society: "Wilson is solid enough for transportation to the- 

 world's end, provided the world's end is in a reasonable distance ; but, unless 

 left on the vine till perfectly ripe, when, of course, it has lost some of its 

 firmness, it is sour and somewhat strong in flavor. Acid is a good thing, , 

 but one can have too much of it in the temper and in fruit, and a strong, 

 positive flavor can be overdone." 



As a member of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, and for many 

 years a recorder of its transactions, whose members have been largely en- 

 gaged in growing Wilson and other strawberries for market, we can confi- 

 dently assert that the prevailing and almost universal sentiment of the 



