38 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



particularly in Canada and the Pacific Northwest. The 

 Wilson is unique among North American varieties in the 

 complete ascendancy that it gained over all other sorts and 

 held, practically undisputed, for a quarter of a century. 



There was one section of the country, however, that per- 

 sistently and consistently refused to see any virtue in the 

 Wilson. This was the vicinity of Boston, most conserva- 

 tive of towns and the home of the Hovey. The origina- 

 tor of that notable variety appears to have considered it a 

 personal affront that any other sort should be proposed 

 for first honors. In 1860, after the Wilson already was 

 firmly established in public favor, Hovey fervently de- 

 clared, " Wilson's Albany has fruited with us this year in 

 fine condition, and has come fully up to our expectations 

 as one of the sourest, most dirty colored, and most disagree- 

 able flavored of all recently introduced sorts — an ex- 

 cellent sort to make vinegar of. Besides, it is soft, watery, 

 unfit for carriage, has a very large calyx, and is hollow 

 at the core." ^ To this damning indictment his neigh- 

 bors in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society loyally 

 gave assent, voting unanimously, "The Wilson's Albany 

 is unfit for general cultivation," and Marshall O. Wilder 

 declared he " would as soon eat a turnip as a Wilson straw- 

 berry." This ought to have killed it. Fruit growers, 

 however, were beginning to learn that the reputation of a 

 variety cannot be made or marred by the pronouncement 

 of any individual or Society, however high an authority, 

 and kept on growing the Wilson. Boston never ceased 

 to look upon the Wilson with a jaundiced eye. When 

 her sons journeyed southward in 1861, and were forced 

 by dire hunger to partake of the despised fruit, one of the 

 survivors declared, "The Wilson strawberry killed more 

 1 Mag. Hon., July, 1860, p. 307. 



