SECRETARYS PORTFOLIO. 329 



or bad in proportion as -we arc ablo to mainlain abundant moisture during the 

 blossoming and fruiting season. If provision can be made for irrigation, it 

 may increase the yield ten-fold. 



TWO VIEWS OF THE WILSON. 



The controversy over the M'ilson strawberry in Michigan has. during the past 

 season reached a high pitch, and this fact is our excuse for inserting in the 

 Portfolio a couple of articles from the Detroit Post and Tribune, written by 

 two strawberry growers of experience ; men in whose judgment wc have a great 

 deal of confidence : 



NUMBER ONE. 



A recent article asks the question, ^MVhere arc all great berries of which 

 wo hear so much?" and names over several that have been sent out to take the 

 place of the onlu market borry, the Wilson. Well, sir, tliey have gone or are 

 going after the hundreds of others that come out each year, with a great flour- 

 ish; but very few of them are ever heard of again. The fact is they do not 

 pay. We grow the berries for profit. None of us are millionaires, at least I 

 never saw or heard of one, and we are not philanthropic enough to grow those 

 ^'big Injun" berries only to please others at' the expense of our own pockets. 

 That is, consumers will not pay the difference necessary to enable the growers 

 to make a profit growing those ''big Injuns.'' When they do, no doubt they 

 will be grown. 



As a rule the yield of all these berries is so much less that there is no monev 

 in them. As proof of this I will give the proportional yield of my own field 

 •this year as far as harvested. I liave the Wilson, Monarch, Triomphe and 

 Seneca Chief, all on soil suited to the variety, and all have had equally good 

 •care. They stand 6, I, 2, 1. That is I have taken six quarts of Wilsons from 

 the same land that I have taken a pint of Monarchs, two quarts of Triomphes 

 and one quart of Seneca Chief. I find this to be not far from the average of 

 other growers in this vicinity. Now to raise them and make money we must 

 get a much greater price than for the Wilson. Do we get it? In the circular 

 •of Saturday, in Chicago, Wilsons were quoted at from SI to §il.GO per case and 

 Triomphes from 81.25 to $1.75. In my own returns, in no shipment have the 

 ■other varieties sold hidier than the Wilson and in two instances for less. The 

 general consumer Aviil not pay the extra price necessary to get them, because 

 one-half the monev will buy the extra susrar needed to make the Wilson as 

 good or better. 



The Wilson also gets to market in sucli good condition that it always sells 

 at a fair price, while the others must be extra to sell at all. As to quality, let 

 the above-mentioned writer eat well-grown and well-ripened Wilsons and he 

 will not get off such a growl as that with which he closed that article. Hardly 

 a grower here ever uses other varieties in preference when he has them. 



The writer says he ''would like to see the grower who has the higli moral 

 courage to exclude the Wilson and grow a berry like the Triomphe." So would 

 we, if he did it for profit and continued it for five years. He w^ould be a 

 curiosity, indeed, and he would find his berry a luxury, a most expensive 

 •one to him. 



