398 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and we give space here to quote a full accouut of it by himself : I do not write 

 to sell Wilson plants, that is not my business ; but I do wish to sell fruit. I do 

 not consider the Wilson a perfect strawberry ; still, in pursuit of a better, I have 

 spent at least $1,000 of time and money, and all my efforts in that direction 

 have failed. There are in my garden to-day newer varieties that would cum- 

 ber the ground even if it were worth only ten shillings an acre, and yet the 

 parent plants cost from $3 to 15 per dozen Weighed ami found wanting, they 

 will like a host of predecessors soon take their appropriate place, in the com- 

 post-heap, though I must confess they make very expensive manure. Mean- 

 while, for near a quarter of a century Wilson has been, and is, my reliance. 

 But some other people write it down, and it appears to me that one of them, 

 2)erhaps unconsciously, suggests the reason why it no longer holds its own when 

 he says that " for many years it was only necessary to put out a bed of Wilsons 

 to be certain of getting a large crop ; it mattered little what the soil, or how 

 previously treated, or how the plants were treated, or how badly neglected ; 

 when the harvest came the berries were there." If such maltreatment is gen- 

 eral the only wonder is that the variety has not become extinct. 



In the summer of '61 I obtained a few of the plants, which in '62 had in- 

 creased so much that I set quite a bed. The crop of '63 was enormous — so far 

 beyond anything I had ever seen or heard of that wife and I were in high glee 

 and believed we had indeed a bonanza. Before winter the plants looked badly, 

 and the following season the bed that had given us such an immense yield of 

 beautiful fruit was almost dead. The crop was of course very light. Mean- 

 while we had set out other beds, and they repeated the large crop of the parent 

 bed, and then died, or nearly so. Whenever the first crop of fruit had for any 

 reason been only moderate we have as a rule had no difficulty in getting a fair 

 second one. But if the first yield is such as we expect, and try to get, the beds 

 are turned over at the close of the picking season, and some other crop is put 

 upon the ground. No strawberries are set upon that ground again for a num- 

 ber of years. Such in a few words was my success with my first Wilson beds in 

 '63, and such it is in the years that are now passing. A new bed has never yet 

 failed to give me at least a fair crop, and in most cases an immense one. 



I have never seen what I call a fairly good bed of Wilsons except upon rich 

 land, and do not believe it is possible to get a good crop from poor soil. They 

 are not as rapid growers as most other varieties, and throw out fewer runners 

 than almost any I have ever known. They have short leaves and fruit-stems, 

 hence it is very easy for some of the strong growers, like Crescent, Sharpless, 

 Kentucky and others to run over and destroy a bed of them in a very short 

 time. I have repeatedly been called upon to examine beds of supposed Wilsons 

 and tell the owners why they did not bear fruit ; when the only difficulty was a 

 few stray plants allowed in the bed had overrun the modest little Wilsons and 

 killed them, or so nearly so that they could not yield their fruit. Mine are 

 guarded with jealous care. We should no more think of allowing any other 

 variety to remain among and grow with them than we shou'd allow Canada 

 thistles. So careful are we in this respect that the beds are examined very 

 carefully and repeatedly every season, and if a stray plant of any other variety 

 is found it is destroyed. 



It may be asked, Why will they not yield more than a single crop? The 

 simple f act is, if they are cared for as they should be, they will bear them- 

 selves to death the first season ; not all dying immediately, but so weakened by 

 their immense yield that they have not sufficient vitality left to resist the 



