46 REPORT OF THE" SECRETARY OF THE 



but because there are some considerations in regard to them 

 that I have long desired to present to you. I therefore thank 

 you for this opportunity, and hasten to improve it. 



A UNIVERSAL FRUIT. 



The strawberry is as nearly as possible a universal fruit. 

 The question is not, "Where does it grow naturally ? but, Where 

 does it not grow ? In its wild, uncultivated form, the straw- 

 berry can be found in all parts of the globe we inhabit, where 

 the foot of man has trod. In its cultivated and improved 

 form, it has become the favorite fruit of every civilized coun- 

 try, so far as heard from. It is therefore a subject of vast 

 extent and absorbing interest. 



Whether regarded for its beauty or its use, its rich, luxu- 

 rious flavor, its medicinal, health-producing qualities, the 

 strawberry has no peer, and at this season ol the year it has 

 no competitor. 



As soon as the snows of winter disappear from the surface 

 of the earth, the beautiful, fresh, green eye of the strawberry 

 exhibits its vitality, and every ray of sunshine seems to expand 

 the tiny plant into opening leaves. The plant has not grown 

 large before a cluster of buds appears, and a few weeks of sun- 

 shine develop these bunches of buds into flowers, rivaling the 

 daisy in its modest beauty, and excelling it in delicacy and 

 profuseness. Rapidly the season advances ; the blossom, like 

 all things delicate and beautiful, soon falls off, giving place to 

 a small green berry. Sunshine and shower succeed, and in a 

 very few weeks we have before us an object not only "exceed- 

 ingly pleasant to the sight," but " good for food." 



Few, perhaps, of the thousands who purchase strawberries 

 in our city markets ever contemplate this gradual unfolding, 

 this process, step by step, which results in the perfection of 

 this most perfect of all fruits ; and yet it is a study replete 

 with interest and fraught with delight at every stage, the 

 climax of which is the enjoyment which the perfected fruit 

 contributes to the sum of human pleasure. 



