HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 33 



soms produce fruit, aud they have come out on my place perfect 

 in variety. The old Iron Clad is too uncertain; you get a few 

 large berries from it and that is about the end of it; the balance 

 are not worth picking. The Countess, as you call it here, in my 

 opinion, is one of the very best fertilizers for the Crescent. A 

 gentleman who lives on the other side of the river from La Cres- 

 cent and who raises a good many kinds of strawberries, recom- 

 mends setting out about four or five rows of Crescent seedlings 

 and not less than two rows of some good fertilizer. Then there is 

 no difficulty in keeping the varieties separate, an:l it makes a good 

 deal less difference then what you use for a fertilizer, because if 

 you keep them separate they are all right, but if you mix a dark 

 colored variety with the Crescent it spoils the looks of it. 



Prof. Green. In recommending berries, I do not believe in 

 recommending varieties that have not been thoroughly tried. I 

 have one variety, the Hoffman, which has been very successfully 

 grown through the eastern and southern states, but it is of no value 

 here. The only way of ascertaining the value of a berry is by 

 careful trial under similar conditions to those in which it is to be 

 grown. I do not believe in recommending varieties after only one 

 season's trial, however promising they appear. 



Mr. Wilcox. I have much hope in the new varieties. Those 

 that have become firmly established over large areas of cultivation 

 and have supplanted the old varieties for market purposes, we 

 should report favorably on. When we consider a berry, in reference 

 to its market value, we have the true basis for its value to the peo- 

 ple at large. 



In regard to the suggestion of my friend Harris in reference to 

 the early blossoms of the Crescent being fruitful; the Crescent is 

 not a pistillate variety, strictly speaking, and has a large amount of 

 pollen, which is generally developed at an early stage, and so helps 

 to fertilize the early blossoms of itself and adjacent flowers. And 

 not only this; the valuable quality of the Crescent and what has 

 given its successor prominence as a market bearer, is the fact of 

 its possessing a very perfect stigma and a very vigorous receptacle 

 and this with a small amount of pollen often develops very perfect 

 fruit. 



Prof. Green. There is one variety I spoke of, the Lady Rusk 

 which has made a finer growth than the Crescent. It is very high- 

 ly spoken of in Illinois; I have not tested it fairly myself. It is 

 very prolific in plants. 



Mr. Harris. I don't think we can gain anything from the ex- 



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