30 Mississippi Valley Horticullural Society. 



sfmthern crops do well, that have failed to give reasonably good results irs 

 this fruit, we have so far failed to learn where they are located. 



It is true of the strawberry as of other thing:?, that it has its favored locali- 

 ties, where it attains its greatest perfection, and gives its most astonishing^ 

 results. A few growers fully understand this fact, but many, apparently in- 

 telligent, seem n<jt to understand how great these differences really are, and 

 are disappointed when they fail to do as well as others. Too little has been 

 said by many writers on the strawberry, about the soils best suited to the 

 health and growth of the plant, and the perfection and beauty of the fruit- 

 The wonderful ease and facility Avith which the berry adapts itself to differ- 

 ent soils and latitudes, coupled with the fact that even in an imperfect con- 

 dition it is satisfactory in appearance and taste to most persons, may in part 

 be the cause of this oversight. We do not agree with the generally received 

 opinion, as taught by many writers, that a sandy loam gives either the larg- 

 est yield or finest fruit. Possibly in the North and West such may be true,, 

 but in the South our largest yields and finest berries are obtained from a 

 clay loam. 



While it is true that berries grown on a sandy loam are often as large and 

 apparently as firm and well colored as on a clay loam, it is equally true that 

 they are deficient in that solidity, strength of color and general make-up 

 that the same varieties possess grown on the clay loam. All the facts so far 

 as we have been able to gather them, point to the general conclusion, that all 

 other things being equal, the strength, beauty and perfection of the berry is 

 diminished in proportion as free Siind exists in the soil ; not that any of our 

 good land is without sand, but we use the term free sand where it readily 

 separates and can be seen in the branches and little gullies. By far the 

 larger proportion of all our Southern lands has a liberal amount of free sand 

 in them, whether we take the rich alluvials in the great delta, or the very 

 light, porous, thinner pine lands near the Gulf, or the higher and better 

 grades of the piny sections, this is true. It is also true of the rich " cane 

 hills" or " bluff formations," and nearly all of the high, rolling lands. Be- 

 sides the above, we have the heavy, waxy lime lands, and the close, compact, 

 retentive table lands. While on these waxy lime lands some of the varieties- 

 under skillful and high culture are very fine, the hnjopy medium between 

 the light sandy loams on the one hand, and heavy lime on the other, where 

 all the finer qualities of the berry are brought to their greatest perfection, is 

 on these close, compact, retentive table lands, such as we find in central Mis- 

 sissippi. 



While it is a fact that in and around New Orleans, large quantities of ber- 

 ries are grown on the alluvial lands, and on the pine lands adjacent, it is a 

 further fact, understood by first-class dealers and their customers, that they 

 are lacking in that sprightlin- ss and high flavor found in the berries grown 

 on the more compact clay lands at a distance, and can only be shipped to- 

 distant markets, under the most favorable atmosjiheric influences, in the 

 early part of the season, when cool. Many times, in past seasons, when the 



