FINE JESSIE STRAWBERRIES. 



Sir, — I write to tell your readers of 

 my great success with the Jessie straw- 

 berry. I had one specimen weighing 

 1 3^ ounces and a number of one 

 ounce and over, and measuring five to 

 six inches in circumference. I have 

 only one other kind to compare them 

 with, that is the Gandy, and the Jessie 

 can beat them more than double both 

 in size and quantity. I am more as- 

 tonished at this as in the test at Guelph 

 the Jessie is put down at 88, while the 

 Gandy is 69 and 19 respectively for 1896- 



1897. 



Now I and perhaps many others of 

 your readers are anxious to get the best. 

 Can you tell us what they are, and where 

 they are to be obtained ? I see a Mr. 

 C. S. Pratt of Reading, Mass., says the 

 Clyde, Glen Mary and Sample are the 

 best ; do you endorse that statement ? 

 Can the Woolverton, Ruby, Wm. Belt, 

 Haverland, Tennessee, Prolific, or any 

 of them be obtained and where ? 

 Yours Respectfully, 



L. Fairbanks. 

 Whitby. 



With reference to Mr. Fairbanks' ex- 

 perience with the Gandy and Jessie 

 strawberries as compared with ours here, 

 I may say this is but another evidence 

 of the proof of the statement that every 

 fruitgrower must to a certain extent be 

 an experimenter for himself. Varieties 

 differ so much in different soils and 

 sections that no one experiment will 

 answer for all. At an experiment sta- 

 tion like this we can by repeated tests 

 with all the varieties that can be obtained 

 narrow down the list to a few of the 

 leading varieties. By following up the 

 tests with these varieties on their own 

 soils growers may easily find out just 

 what would be best for their particular 

 soil and section. 



In looking over the records I find 

 that the Gandy, while not quite so large 

 on the average as the Jessie, yet has 

 given quite a bit larger yield for three 

 years in succession. 



We have given no attention to the 

 weighing of individual berries, but 

 think we would have no difficulty in 

 beating Mr. Fairbank's record with some 

 of our specimens of Marshall, Woolver- 

 ton, Mammoth and a number of others. 



As to what are our best varieties, it is 

 rather early yet to include this year's 

 results in making up an average of three 

 years, as some of our latest varieties 

 have not yet reached their midseason, 

 but taking an average of the results of 

 the past two years Van Deman easily 

 ranks as our best early variety. Saun- 

 ders, Stone's Early, Warfield and Haver- 

 land, in the order named have been the 

 most productive. Nearly all these, how- 

 ever, have their weak points. Van 

 Deman is valuable as a beautiful, fair- 

 sized, very early berry, but the plant 

 lacks sufficient vigor to mature the late 

 settings of berries. Saunders is a first- 

 class all round berry, late, large and 

 firm, plant prolific, healthy and vigorous. 

 Stone's ''Early " is not early, and the 

 berry lacks size and firmness. Its most 

 valuable quality is its productiveness. 

 Warfield, on account of its firmness and 

 dark rich color is one of the best can- 

 ning varieties, and in a favorable season 

 on moist rich soil it is all that could be 

 desired, but it cannot stand drouth par- 

 ticularly on a light sandy soil. Haver- 

 land is one of the old reliables, and 

 lacks only firmness to make it a first- 

 class berry in every respect. 



Of the newer varieties Clyde and Glen 

 Mary are making an excellent record 

 for themselves this year, and the former 

 bids fair to head the list of over 220 vari- 



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