80 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ket beriy. In many instances -where careful selection had been made and the 

 packages well put up, they had brought as good prices as the fancy berries. 



President Lyon. — A decision of tliis question can not be reached ^Yithout 

 consulting first the man who raises the berry; second, the man who buys it; 

 third, the man who consumes it. To illustrate: Anybody can grow pretty 

 good AVilson's, but it takes a man of experience to grow the Trioniphe de 

 band. But if both be grown at their best and put upon the market there is 

 no question but the latter will outsell the former many times over. You do 

 not have to grow, box, transport, and sell so many of tlie Triomphe to make a 

 definite amount of money as you do of the Wilsons. Tiiere are few that will 

 carry this idea out, and hence tliere is the better chance for those who will. 



Geo. ^y. Bridgnian, of Bridgman. — The ideal market berry must be the one 

 that under the best of care and experience will bring the largest income. We 

 can not dodge this definition, the market berry is for money. We do not 

 look to the ease with which it may be raised or tlie palate of the consumer 

 except so far as each has an influence upon our pockets. If the AVilson is the 

 ideal there is not much to be made in the culture of strawberries, if we judge 

 by the profits this season on this berry. We are, I apprehend driven to one of 

 two alternatives in market strawberry culture. We must, in the aggregate, 

 raise less berries or we must have an admitted better berry to compete with 

 the Wilson. I never have lost confidence in strawberry culture. AVlth wheat 

 at one dollar per bushel strawberries ought to bring a correspondingly small 

 figure. Tiiey are not a novelty any longer, but have the same competition as 

 grain or apples. 



We need to know a good many conditions to name an ideal market straw- 

 berry. Mr. Knox on his famous farm could succeed with the Jucunda admirably 

 and make it a prominent market berry — but it is exceptional to find a locality or 

 a man to raise fine Jucundas. The same is largely true of the Triomphe. To 

 make money out of strawberries a man must give tliem close attention now 

 a-days any way — so that this condition we must admit as a common one — but 

 soil varies and it is found that varieties suited to one soil will not llourish upon 

 another so that I can not see just how we can decide upon a single ideal market 

 berry. 



Question. — What berry comes the nearest your ideal in your locality under 

 your individual conditions? 



Mr. Bridgman. — For sand I should name the Champion, even although it is 

 a pistillate berry and must have fertilization from mixing with another with 2)er- 

 fect flowers. For my own soil I should be troubled to select out of five or six 

 varieties. 



A Voice. — Name them as they occur to you in the order of their value. 



Mr. Bridgman. — That is quite a difficult task and possibly I might not hit the 

 same order a second time because they are so near alike with me. I hesitate 

 but Avill run tlie risk as follows : 1st. Champion or Monarch ; 2d. Cinderella 

 (perhaps); 3d. Black Defiance; 4th. Triomphe de Gand or Jucunda. 

 Durand's Beauty has been a very promising berry with me since I have 

 had it. 



Question. — What about the Crescent? 



Mr. Bridgman. — I am plain to say I have as yet no definite opinion upon 

 the Crescent, although I am growing it to some extent. 



The hour getting late the meeting adjourned until morning under the ar- 

 rangement tliat the topic should then be resumed. 



