242 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



mountain atmosphere, has the ideal shipping qualities. The same berry- 

 grows larger, redder, more delicious on the rich, sandy river bottoms of 

 the Willamette valley, but will not stand shipping as far, although a 

 Salem dealer had a telegraphic order for a carload from Sacramento this 

 spring which he could not fill for lack of berries. 



For the cannery we must look for still other qualities than for shipping, 

 and I am a firm believer in the theory that the highest success in growing 

 strawberries will be reached from specializing and growing the fruit for 

 special purposes — for the home market, for shipment, and for canning, 

 although one variety may have qualities for several or even for all these 

 purposes. 



By specializing we shall reach the highest development in quality, in 

 stimulating special demands, financially, and in the improvement of the 

 berry itself. For the cannery and to make a reputation for fruit that will 

 take the top round in the market, we must cultivate for color, flavor, and 

 firmness. Canned strawberries have been a drug on the market because 

 only refuse has been canned. 



A carload of some variety that was never grown for canning is thrown 

 upon the market, after waiting several days it cannot be sold and it is 

 rushed to the cannery. When it comes out of the can it is a whitish, 

 bluish mess, no more resembling strawberries than the remains of a 

 moundbuilder resembles a pretty, red-cheeked maiden, and the mess is 

 about as appetizing. Compare such canned strawberries to a dish of the 

 best Wilson, Clark s or Ideal, each berry full, round, and plump, keeping 

 its shape, color, and flavor, and you have the difference between the 

 ordinary canned product off the grocery shelf and the best fruit God ever 

 made put up under favorable circumstances. 



For the cannery we have not begun to do our best. Indeed we have 

 done little or nothing, only the surplus, refuse, offal of the strawberry 

 crop going to the cannery. I venture the statement that there has never 

 been grown an acre of strawberries for the special purpose of having the 

 fruit canned at its best — the variety selected, grown, and picked to be 

 canned. » 



The industry is in its beginning. The most perfect canning varieties 

 have not been introduced in Oregon. We have only begun to grow the 

 Ideal and Ruby — two varieties that have the special qualities for a 

 superior canned strawberry — tartness, high color, red clear through, solid 

 flesh, and holding color and form after being cooked in the cans. 



The Ideal is our most hopeful canner, a perfectly round, solid-fleshed, 

 elastic-skinned, medium-sized fruit, perfect flowering and frost proof, 

 holding up in size to the end of the season and very early. 



The Ruby has all these qualities but is one of the latest varieties, is a 

 large, heart-shaped fruit, a tremendous bearer, producing on one plant 

 three hundred and sixty-five berries and bearing after all others are gone. 



Both these berries are solid enough for shipment, and bright enough in 

 color for the home market, if needed for that. Both have a skin that 

 holds the pulp in shape cooked, one being very early and the other very 



