DESIRABLE CHARACTERS IN A VARIETY 169 



industry may bring about a revival of shuckless varieties. 

 Those who sell all the crop to the cannery, not merely 

 the later pickings when prices are low and berries small, 

 would like to have a variety that meets the ideal recently 

 defined by an Oregon canner : " One that is self-stemming, 

 that is, leaving the hulls on the stems when picked, so that 

 it comes off perfectly clean like a raspberry." The Mt. 

 Vernon did this, but it did not have the color and firmness 

 necessary in a good canning variety. Some of the varieties 

 produced by Albert F. Etter of California are picked with- 

 out hulls and scarcely any abrasion. 



Color. — The color of different varieties varies from 

 whitish to dark maroon, almost black. The most desir- 

 able color in strawberries, as in apples and other fruits, 

 depends chiefly upon the preference of those who buy them. 

 If the eye is pleased, the desire to eat follows. Fifty years 

 ago, bright orange-scarlet berries were in demand ; many 

 candidates for favor were dismissed with the disparaging 

 statement, "Its dark color is against it." Light-colored 

 berries were preferred then for the same reason that red 

 apples are preferred to green varieties now. In time, the 

 public may come to like green apples and light-colored 

 strawberries, but now it wants red apples and dark red 

 strawberries. If the Cumberland Triumph had been intro- 

 duced in 1915 instead of 1874 it would have received scant 

 consideration because of its light color. The standard 

 of excellence in color is artificial and changes with 

 generations. 



Several attempts have been made to popularize white 

 varieties, but without success. They are rarely pure 

 white, but a rather unattractive dirty color, sometimes 

 flushed with pink. Even the acknowledged high quality 

 of some white sorts, as the Lennig, has not saved them 



