SUMMER MEETING. 59 



time of the year, and the fact that it is also the healthiest time of year, it 

 would seem that strawberries must be healthful ; at all events I never knew of 

 any one being injured by them. When I have had them to sell, and the price 

 has been low, I have thought that people did not eat enough of them. 



HOW TO EAT STRAWBERRIES. 



H. G. Reynolds: AVhen in England I was invited by a gardener to look over 

 his strawberry plantation, and while passing through the patch and admiring 

 the luscious fruit I was surprised that no one ate any. I wanted some, but as 

 no one else ate any, and I was not invited to partake, I had to wait until supper 

 time. At the table strawberries were passed around with the hulls on in a fruit 

 dish, much as we would apples, and each person took one or two. At one 

 place I found a strange looking dish, which proved to be strawberries mashed 

 in cream and sugar. In Germany I saw strawberries, mostly wild ones, in mar- 

 ket, but people did not eat them to any extent. At a restaurant I called for 

 bread and butter and strawberries. The bread and butter came all right, but 

 not enough strawberries to amount to anything. I said that I wanted a quart. 

 They brought them in a basket with the hulls on. I then ordered a dish of 

 cream and some sugar, and when I began to hull the strawberries and put on 

 cream and sugar and eat them I found every one in the room was looking at 

 me. 



W.W.Tracy: Are we sure that our usual method of eating strawberries 

 with cr. am and sugar is the best way? Isn't it a fact that we smother the 

 flavor of our berries with the cream, and so fail to appreciate our better va- 

 rieties ? I like much better to use only sugar with a little water. 



Mr. Reynolds: There is a difference (however prepared) in the way people 

 eat them. Some eat in a manner to take away the appetite of everyone else 

 at the table. Others have a way of eating, even the plainest food, so as to 

 make others hungry for some of the same. 



The following note on the topic was sent by Chas. A. Greene of New York : 

 First catch your strawberry. Don't catch her in your neighbor's garden 

 while he is off fishing; don't catch her from the strawberry man's wagon, when 

 it happens to pass your way at long intervals ; don't catch her at the grocery, 

 soft, sticky and slippery. No ! Catch the strawberry as it blushes in your own 

 garden or field, fresh with the morning dew, fragrant and beautiful as the rose. 

 Thus captured, you catch ruddy cheeks, a good appetite, love of home, fun for 

 the children and long life. Don't catch her among weeds and grass, nor under 

 the shade of trees, but in the open sunshine, whither she holds a picnic, and 

 where she has a chance for life. While you are catching, catch a plenty. 

 Catch enough for the young folks, the old folks, the servants, the sick 

 neighbors. 



Having caught the strawberry do not be rash. Most people are led by in- 

 stinct to devour ravenously as soon as caught, but I advise yon to be deliberate 

 and thoughtful. Look the berries over. Note the form, color, texture, aroma. 

 Take your brushes and paint a strawberry on canvas, then compare it with the 

 original. The garden berry has beaten you, I daresay. Your painted berry 

 has no soul, no heart. It does not look jolly or lead you off into reminiscences 

 of early days ; the sunshine does not adhere to it ; it does not smell good ; 

 even the pigs would turn up their noses at it, and yet, you pride yourself upon 

 being an artist. 



