Addresses — Strawberries. 145 



a pretty large story; if we [had the plants out west, I thought the 

 weeds would get the advantage of them, but he said, " go into my 

 garden and look at my bed." I went and saw the bed which had 

 been fruited three years. He had a bed of the Arena growing on 

 one side and of the Wilson on the other. He said, " we treat those 

 exactly alike. They have not had a bit of labor upon them since 

 the first year." The Crescent Seedling was entirely free from 

 weeds. I could not see one there, large or small; and it was a per- 

 fect mat of vines. He said it had borne as well that season as it 

 did the first. He could see no real difference. I am satisfied that 

 it will take possession of the ground, and that no weeds and grass 

 will grow if you keep them down the first year. I set a quantity 

 of them last year, four feet apart each way; they have covered the 

 ground so there will be a solid mass of vines in the spring; and for 

 hardiness and productiveness and for quality, I have never seen a 

 berry I thought superior to it. Of course it takes years of trial to 

 test these new things, and I think friend Smith should give it a 

 further trial before he condemns it. I appreciate the Wilson. It 

 is a valuable berry and has proved so. It has been the great berry, 

 as the Concord has been the great grape of the country. It has its 

 faults, and I hope that we shall get something that will be equal in 

 productiveness to the Wilson, better in quality, more uniform in 

 size, and on the whole a better market berry. That is what we 

 are looking after in new varieties; and though I would not give up 

 the Wilson, I would still try varieties that are promising. 



Mr. Smith — I did not run down the Crescent Seedling. I said 

 distinctly that I had not tried it long enough to be certain of what 

 it would prove to be. The idea I wanted to convey was simply 

 this: for the amateur, those who are growing strawberries for their 

 own table, not to try these until such men as Mr. Plumb and Mr. 

 Kellogg and myself, whose business it is to test new varieties, and 

 stand the loss if they prove to be failures, have tried them. It is 

 no matter if we do lose, because it is a part of our business to test 

 them. Let the amateur watch such experiments and see if the re- 

 sults are good, and not plunge into them, fooling away time and 

 money. 1 do not know but the Crescent Seedling will prove to be 

 all that its friends say for it, only I say to the amateur, " go slow," 

 for I certainly have not as much faith in it as I had a year ago. I 

 set my vines last spring and they did well. I got them from Mr. 



