178 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



Quality. — Very poor, poor, fair, good, very good, excel- 

 lent. 



Shipping quality. — Dependent upon size, shape, texture, 

 firmness, thickness of skin and other qualities. Ascer- 

 tained by shipping tests. 



Freedom from disease. 



Historical data. — Time and place of origin ; parentage ; 

 by whom originated ; date of introduction. 



Score cards. — When a variety of fruit is exhibited in 

 competition with other varieties, or seedlings compared, it 

 is necessary to have a score card, or standard of excellence, 

 so as to reach a fair estimate of the relative worth of each 

 and to eliminate personal preferences as far as possible. 

 The first North American score card for strawberries 

 was suggested by F. W. Card in 1895. He proposed that 

 the perfect score for seedlings and varieties be ten points, 

 one each for the following characters : vigor, disease resist- 

 ance, frost resistance, productiveness, appearance, fra- 

 grance, size, texture, regularity, quality. 



In 1897 a committee of the American Pomological 

 Society, H. E. Van Deman, Chairman, recommended the 

 following score card : 



American Pomological Society Score Card 



