FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 15 



In one instance I know of, it is one of the most profitable varieties on 

 a place where the highest class fruit is a specialty. As an illustration 

 of the kind of fruit this grower grows and the kind of market he has 

 it might be stated that he got $3 a bushel for his fancy Jonathans. 

 Varieties vary greatly under various conditions and a systematic in- 

 vestigation of the behavior of varieties under various conditions of soil, 

 climate, general lay of the land, care, etc., by some large public institu- 

 tion would be of great value to the fruit growers of this country. 



The strawberry is especially susceptible to changes, especially of soil 

 and moisture as it is a shallow rooted plant. For this reason I will 

 not mention varieties of strawberries at all, for what may do well on 

 your place would probably be a failure on your neighbors or even on 

 another part of your place. In general, however, the large leafed 

 varieties that are rather shy in making plants and have berries of high 

 quality such as the Marshall, Wm. Belt and Gandy need a rich, dark, 

 loamy soil. Large leafed varieties that are moderate plant makers and 

 have berries of rather poor quality such as the Clyde, Bederwood and 

 Uncle Jim do well on lighter soils. Varieties of medium size leaves 

 and being good plant makers and good bearers such as the Dunlap, War- 

 field and Buster do well on a larger range of soil than other varieties. 

 The Buster is a new variety and is a very good one for this type of 

 berry. For several years it outbore any variety in our patch. Every 

 strawberry grower should have a trial patch where he can try such 

 varieties as look good to him in the catalog after due allowance has been 

 made for the coloring matter put in the descriptions. It is well to go 

 slow on boomers. 



There has not been many varieties of gooseberries and currants in- 

 troduced in the past few years. There is, however, one variety of goose- 

 berry and one of currant that I can safely recommend. The Portage 

 is an American seedling of an English gooseberiy. It is a moderate 

 grower, not quite as good as the Downing, but almost as good a bearer. 

 It is a large, handsome berry and is better than any English variety we 

 grow. It is almost entirely free from mildew. All who want to grow 

 a fancy gooseberry should give this variety a trial. 



The new currant is the Perfection. It is a vigorous and prolific 

 variety that bears large, handsome fruit of the cherry type. The bunches 

 are quite long and compact and are well filled out at the ends. 



The Austin dewberry which has been exploited around by agents under 

 the name of Texas and sold at fancy prices is quite promising. It is 

 a rampant grower and bears well of large fruit of good quality. The 

 texture of the berry is a little soft but it is well shaped and of good 

 color. It is a few days earlier than the Premo. I believe that it would 

 be somewhat tender for the northern parts of the State. 



We have found nothing in the black raspberry line to beat the Cum- 

 berland. As an early berry the Eureka will probably take the place of 

 the Kansas. The Kansas has the habit of having off years when the 

 berries are very nubby and small. Eureka is fully equal to the Kansas 

 in every way and does not have off years. Eureka and Cumberland 

 would make a good combination to fill out the blackcap season. 



There is only one red raspberry in my estimation and that is the 

 Cuthbert. Some, however, like the King and others the Miller. I have 

 seen the King do very well on clayey soil but on our sandy loam it is 



