104 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



kill back considerably. The apple tree 

 grew about five inches, and promises to 

 do well. 



Your correspondents in the March 

 number give a somewhat flattering tes- 

 timony regarding the Ben Davis apple, 

 but any one who has once bought them 

 for his own use will not be apt to do 

 so again. They are too much like balls 

 of sole leather, tough and tasteless. As 

 long as buyers are guided by appear- 

 ance instead of quality they will buy 

 Ben Davis, but no longer ; still it may 

 pay the grower for a few years longer. 

 E,. B. Thornton. 



Orono, Durham Co. 



WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY. 

 STRAWBERRIES FOR THE FAMILY. 



BY T. C. ROBINSON, OWEN SOUND. 



The requirements of a family fruit 

 are very different from those essential 

 to a market variety. The firmness 

 which implies safe transportation long 

 distances is entirely unnecessary in a 

 berry that is to be eaten directly from 

 the vine, or that appears on the table 

 within an hour after the little fingers 

 have scared it from its leafy hiding- 

 place. And although size and beauty 

 are very desirable, they do not rank 

 essential, as in the samples on the 

 huckster's stands, which are successes 

 or failures mainly according to the de- 

 gree of anticipation excited in the great 

 public by their appearance. 



The qualities, then, to be sought in 

 a fruit for the household are : 



1st. Quantity. 



2nd. Quality. 



3rd. Size. 



4th. Beauty. 



5th. Earliness in one and lateness 

 in another, so as to cover the entire 

 season. 



Some persons, where there are not 

 many children, would put quality first 

 and quantity fourth; but probably 



most people would rate u family fruit 

 according to the foregoing scale of 

 values. 



According to this estimate, after 

 years of careful testing, I consider the 

 following varieties of special value for 

 family use : 



Crescent. — I put this first because of 

 its earliness. It is the hardiest in 

 plant that I am acquainted with, and 

 the crop is simply enormous. With 

 me it usually gives two pickings in ad- 

 vance of Wilson, and two after Wilson 

 is done, and it gives equal pickings with 

 Wilson all through the Wilson's sea- 

 son. It will bear on any soil where 

 the Wilson will, and many soils where 

 Wilson will not, and the berries are as 

 large, more handsome, not as rich, but 

 sweeter, and the blossoms will stand 

 frosts which kill the Wilson's blos- 

 soms. Finally, it seems quite as good 

 as Wilson when cooked; hence for 

 home use I consider it leaves no room 

 whatever for the grand old Wilson in 

 the family garden. 



About a week after the Crescent 

 comes in we begin to pick ripe berries 

 from the 



Bidwell. — With me this is the best 

 family berry that I have well tested. 

 Year after year it comes to the front 

 with its immense loads of beautiful 

 fruit. The berries are much sweeter 

 and larger than Wilson or Crescent, 

 and I find the crop larger also when 

 runners are kept off*. The plant is 

 about the largest and healthiest that I 

 know of. Set in moderately rich soil, 

 1 6 inches apart in the rows, and rows ' 

 30 inches apart, and runners kept off" 

 so that no young plant can take root, 

 the rich, tall, luxuriant foliage will 

 cover nearly the whole surface of the 

 ground. Many of the berries thus 

 grown will measure from two inclies to 

 two-and-a-half inches in length, the 

 shape being long conical. 



Seneca Queen ripens about the same 



