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while other berries were bringing 15 cents a basket the Sharpless were bringing 40. Of 

 course you can only get such prices in large cities. I notice that the Triomphe de Gand 

 is being sold at fi'om 30 to 40 cents a basket, while the other varieties are almost done in 

 the cities. I believe the Early Canada is a berry that we shall hear more favorable 

 reports of each year. I believe it is a berry that will commend itself on account of 

 earliness. One of the main points with men who are growing berries for profit is earli* 

 ness. Even if it is inferior in quality, the early berry will sell well. 



Mr. Beadle. — Have you fruited Captain Jack 1 



Mr. Wellington.— Yes, Captain Jack is as productive as the Crescent ; if it were pos- 

 sible I would say more so. It is of good, uniform size, a good grower, and, I think, a 

 good shipper. The Duncan is a good berry — very good appearance — even — good flavor, 

 and, I think, a good shipper. 



Mr. President Dempsey. — We have a large collection of varieties of strawberries. 

 With respect to the Duncan, we have it growing in company with a large number of 

 varieties, and allow me to say that it is very productive. It produces apparently more ber- 

 ries than foliage. The berries liter-ally hide the foliage. It should, I think, have high 

 culture, or rather pretty strong land. The Sharpless is just the opposite of that. It 

 produces a large amount of foliage. We have a Sharpless setting very near the Duncan 

 and the first year we fruited the Sharpless it was on very strong land — garden soil. We 

 expected to get berries near the size of a man's fist ; but we failed to get any berries at 

 all. We removed the plants afterwards to poorer land, and we find that the Sharpless is 

 now giving perfect satisfaction. I would hate to throw it away. I believe it is going to 

 be very profitable. It commands very high prices in the market ; nearly double what 

 the Wilson or almost any other variety will. I admit the truth of what Mr. Arnold 

 said — that it has almost always a green end ; but almost anybody who has any pride 

 about him in picking strawberries puts that end down (laughter). Last year we had done 

 up a few cans of every variety of berry we grow for the purpose ef testing them, and next 

 to the Wilson stood the Sharpless. I do not know which I would put first. There are 

 several A^arieties of strawberries that are very much praised which I would never advise 

 you to can. I have not the names with me. We plant largely of Wilson's Albany, and 

 intend to until we are satisfied there is a berry more profitable than it. We have planted 

 this year very extensively of the Crescent seedling. Invariably we plant it with the 

 Wilson — two rows of Wilson and about six of the Crescent. I planted the Early Canada 

 last spring. We never planted it before. We planted the Wilson's Albany at the same 

 time. We also planted the Bidwell at the same time ; and the Bidwell produced a few 

 berries. The Early Canada produced a very nice crop for the first year's planting, and 

 the Wilson's Albany also produced a very nice crop — ^just about an equal quantity — and 

 I could not tell the difference between the flavor of the fruit. And I believe I would be 

 considerably troubled to tell the difference between a basket of the Early Canada and a 

 basket of the Wilson ; but the Early Canada appeared to be a little earlier than the Wil- 

 son. The Bidwell matui^ed with the Early Canada. I do not think the Bidwell is going 

 to be a firm berry for shipping ; from what I saw of it I thought it was soft. I thought 

 last year that Arnold's Pride was the most profitable berry that we had on our ground. 

 I think Mr. Arnold remembers me saying that I thought we could pick it with a scoop. 

 I never saw so many berries on my plants as I saw on those. But this spring the plants 

 were dead. The blossoms were not killed, because the plants were killed before them. 

 It was a very severe winter, however. The other three varieties of Arnold's have stood 

 the winter well. 



Mr. Arnold. — Was it growing beside any others ? Was there anything peculiar in 

 the ground 1 



Mr. President Dempsey. — To the one side was the Great American, and to the 

 other side, I think, was the Glendale. There were only some two or three plants that 

 survived. But you could not judge of strawberries from last winter. 



Mr. a. M. Smith. — I had Arnold's Pride planted with the other varieties and just 

 adjoining the Bidwell. And the foliage came out as healthy — in fact ranker — than that 

 of either of the others right alongside of it. I have fruited the Bidwell ; but I hardly 

 know which it is. I sent to Mr, Lyon, President of the Michigan Horticultural Society, 



