ANNUAL MEETING AT NEVADA. 241 



Sam. Miller, at Bluffton, he had growing in a sandy soil on the bank of 

 the Missouri river a few plants of the Martha, at that time a new one, 

 and among thirty or forty varieties, I thought it the finest one among 

 them; large, luxuriant foliage, with fruit stems ten to twelve inches 

 high, standing erect, loaded with fine large berries. 



The following spring I got some of the plants, and they were 

 planted in a heavy clay loam. The next year when they fruited, I was 

 surprised to have a low spreading weakly plant, and the berries had 

 almost to be dug out of the ground, or just the opposite to what it was 

 on friend Millers' sandy soil, and thus it is that we are so often disap- 

 pointed with our new "two dollars per dozen strawberries," Though 

 I am still buying and trying them, and I presume most of the 

 berry growers are also, and so we should, and when a good one comes 

 around we get the benefit of it. Every grower must experiment for 

 himself to find what sorts succeed best on his soil, and a few plants are 

 sufificient for this purpose. It would be folly for anyone to plant largely 

 of any new variety, paying perhaps twenty, thirty or even fifty dollars 

 per thousand for them, and going entirely on others' say so. I have 

 often said and still say it, that every berry-grower should grow seedlings 

 of his own until he gets a good one. Take any of the new ones sent out 

 during the past ten years and go to the originators or disseminators' 

 grounds and there you can see them in all their glory, because the soil 

 and clime suits them. 



There is nothing in horticulture more pleasant or interesting than 

 the growing of new seedlings. I have now a row of about one hundred 

 and fifty seedling strawberries that will fruit next year. Just think of it, 

 to have that many or more plants to fruit and no two of them precisely 

 alike. They already differ in growth, in color of foliage, shape of leaves, 

 etc. When in bloom some will be pistillate, others hermaphrodite. 

 Son;e will ripen their fruit early, some late ; some large, some small, 

 sweet and sour; from a pale red to a dark crimson in color, etc. What 

 is more interesting.^ Some will say we have about attained perfection 

 in the .strawberry, but I find there is still room for improvement. My 

 ideal strawberry would be of the following type: first, size of Sharplcss; 

 second, flavor of the wild strawberry; third, perfect shape of Cumberland; 

 fourth, firmness and shipping qualities of the Wilson; fifth, vigor, hardi- 

 ness and productiveness of the Crescent, and last but not least, to suc- 

 ceed everywhere. I do not think the good Lord ever intends for us to 

 get such a berry, but we can get nearer perfection than we are now. It 

 is with the strawberry as it is with other fruits and also the human family. 



II. R. — 16. 



