STODDARD'S NEW STRAWBERRY. 



79 



a new variety, and asked and received for 

 his plants a price that must have amply re- 

 munerated him for all the labor and pains 

 expended in their cultivation. This is all 

 fair, and very encouraging to those who 

 strive for superiority. But let us examine 

 the claims of this berry as a new variety. 



The Alpines are readily reproduced from 

 the seed, not sporting like the Fines^ and 

 have hitherto resisted all efforts to mate- 

 riaily improve them, and are still described 

 as being small, conical, tender and sweet, 

 parting readily from the stem, and yielding 

 for a long season plenty of berries, " such as 

 ihey are." Other fruits are ameliorated 

 and improved by propagating from the very 

 best, and cultivating with great care ; this 

 seeming to be an exception, is it not fair to 

 suppose that hitherto it has not received that 

 care and attention necessary to produce so 

 desirable a result ? And is not Mr. Stod- 

 dard entitled to all the credit he has re- 

 ceived ? From a stock of more than two 

 thousand seedlings, he selected tha* one 

 which fruited the best, and planted it in a 

 bed, such as few strawberry growers ever 

 prepared. He made it by putting a layer 

 of stones into a bog hole, and then covering 

 them to the depth of three feet Avith the 

 finest garden mould. The result might 

 have been inferred. 



I examined the bed while in bearing last 

 Slimmer, as did hundreds of others, among 

 whom was the editor of the Cultivator, who 

 made a flattering notice in the number for 

 last August. 



On the second day of that month, I set 

 out some of the plants in good though ra- 

 ther dry garden soil, dug two spades deep 

 and well manured. Very hot and dry wea- 

 ther immediately succeeding, most of the 

 plants died, while those that survived, lost 

 all their leaves, and were in a sad condition. 

 This spring they appeared well, and have for 



the past month, yielded very abundantly, 

 and are now again loaded with blossoms 

 and fruit, promising a good supply for at 

 least a month longer. I have counted, at 

 one time, more than two hundred and fifty 

 berries and flowers on one of these hills. 

 Thus far each blossom has produced a good 

 berry, some of them measuring three inches 

 in circumference. 



Not a (ew persons are found who say that 

 the common Alpine, if transplanted into a 

 bed like that of Mr. Stoddard, would pro- 

 duce as good fruit and as much as his has 

 done, yet I cannot hear of any one who has 

 tried it. On the contrary, a friend informs 

 me that he has cultivated the common in al- 

 most every variety of soil and situation du- 

 ring the last twenty years, and that he has 

 never known it to compare with this. Yet 

 this superiority may be only for a genera- 

 tion or two, and the berry may degenerate 

 after a sufficient time shall have elapsed to 

 have destroyed that peculiar stimulus it has 

 so lately received. J. W. Bissell. 



Rochester, July 7, 1S46. 



Remarks. — We have now growing some 

 plants of this new Alpine Strawberry, but 

 they are not yet sufficiently established to 

 warrant us in giving an opinion. Mr. Bis- 

 sell, however, has a very fine bed, and we 

 learn from those who have seen it, that it 

 proves beyond a doubt that this is really 

 a most valuable new variety. It was 

 feared by many persons that Mr. Stoddard's 

 plants, being grown in a soil of unusual 

 depth and richness, it would not be found 

 that the variety would sustain its character 

 when grown in the common way. Mr. Bis- 

 sEL, who is by no means an enthusiast, and 

 who judges veryslowly, has himself assured 

 us since this article was written, that he be- 

 lieves this strawberry is a new and most 

 valuable ever-bearing sort, and is really 

 worthy of extended cultivation. 



