CHAPTER XV 



VARIETIES 



The strawberry is burdened more heavily with indefi- 

 nite and mediocre varieties than any other fruit. Over 

 500 varieties are grown in North America to-day. New 

 varieties indicate that the species still is in the process 

 of evolution and that continued improvement in the 

 garden form may be expected. They also indicate that 

 there is an active interest in the fruit and an enlarging 

 market for it. Fruits that command only a limited mar- 

 ket, as the quince and currant, have few varieties. The 

 more new varieties the better, provided each is distinct 

 and better than all other sorts in at least one important 

 respect. This has not been the case with two-thirds of 

 the varieties that have been introduced since the success 

 of the Hovey stimulated effort in this direction. The 

 ease with which new varieties may be grown and multi- 

 plied and the very short time that it is necessary to wait 

 for results, as compared with tree fruits, have encouraged 

 carelessness in breeding varieties and haste in introducing 

 them. 



DOES IT PAY TO TEST NOVELTIES? 



Occasionally some one declares that the old varieties 

 are better than the new and protests against the intro- 

 duction of others. He forgets that the standard sorts 



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