4-2S statp: pomological society. 



During the year 1858 the "Wilson seems to liave achieved a very extensive 

 notoriety, as a productive and desirable market variety ; almost the only objec- 

 tion made to it being its extreme acidity; but against this its eminent hardi- 

 ness, large size, great productiveness, and the long time it continues in season, 

 pleaded strongly and conclusively for popularity. 



The American Pomological Society, at its session held in Jiew York in Sep- 

 tember, 1858, recommended it for general cultivation. 



At Boston, and perhaps a few other places, it seems not to have become 

 very popular. The editor of the Magazine of Horticulture, C. M. Hovey, in 

 particular, seems to have been very persistent in his opposition to it, — an oppo- 

 sition which may be suspected to have derived edge from the consideration 

 that his time-honored protege, the Hovey, was its chief competitor for favor in 

 that locality. In his issue for July, 1860, he says: "Wilson's Albany has 

 fruited with us this year in fine condition, and has come fully up to our expec- 

 tations, as one of the sourest, most dirty-colored, and disagreeable flavored of 

 all recently introduced sorts. The chairman of the fruit committee at the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society made the very apt remark that it was an 

 excellent sort to make vinegar of. Our excellent correspondent, Dr. Kennicutt, 

 has already informed our readers that he did not like its elderberry flavor, — and 

 he was quite correct, for it is medicinal enough. Besides, it is soft, watery, 

 unfit for carriage, has a very large calyx and is hollow at the core ; its only 

 good qualities are hardiness and productiveness, which will please anybody. 

 Speaking of these latter qualities to a cultivator, he thought they were no 

 addition, for the more one had of them the worse he was oflf. Wherever straw- 

 berries are grown for the table and not for sale, the Wilson will find few admir- 

 ers. Since Avriting the above, we learn that the fruit committee of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society has passed a unanimous vote that the ' Wilson's 

 Albany is unworthy of general cultivation.'" 



In 18G2 a Strawberry Show was held at the office of the American Agricult- 

 urist in New York, at which the Wilson carried off the first premium as the 

 best market berry. 



In June, 1867, the Western New York Fruit Growers' Society re-affirmed 

 their conclusion of 1858 by a vote upon the best six varieties for amateur pur- 

 poses. Twenty-eight ballots were cast, on all of which the Triomphe de Gand 

 appeared, while twenty-two proposed the Wilson. 



Like the Bartlett among pears, and the Baldwin among apples, the Wilson 

 seems to possess the capacity of adaptation to a greater variety of soils and cli- 

 mates than almost any other known variety of this fruit ; while its superior 

 hardiness and vigor enable it to bear, with comparative impunity, not only the 

 scorching of the sun in summer and the freezing and thawing of winter, but 

 also the varied treatment to which it must of necessity be subjected at the 

 hands of ignorant or thoughtless planters and growers. If in addition to these 

 considerations we allow for its great productiveness, with the size, high color- 

 ing and great firmness of the fruit, we can hardly be surprised that almost 

 from its first introduction, it has assumed a leading if not an exclusive posi- 

 tion as a market fruit. On account of its superior firmness it seems to be pre- 

 ferred to all others for canning. Although not the earliest it is among the 

 first as well as the last to appear in our markets. This season, 1873, AVilson's, 

 — home groM^i, — appeared in our market June 7th ; at about the time of the 

 ripening in my grounds of the first specimens of Charles Downing and Green 

 Prolific. 



