EARLY HISTORY 31 



below the average at the present time. In 1849 A. J. 

 Downing asserted "One hundred bushels per acre fre- 

 quently are grown here by market gardeners." Ten years 

 later, the Secretary of the Cincinnati Horticultural 

 Society reported, "The best yield of the Hovey upon our 

 best virgin forest soil is from forty to fifty bushels per acre. 

 The profits of the Hovey under the best circumstances 

 are from $100 to $120 an acre, clear of all expenses." l 



Another view of strawberry economics at that period is 

 afforded in a report by John C. Youtcy of Cincinnati, 

 in 1855. He says : 2 " I had two acres of Early Washington 

 which produced 60 bushels and sold for $425 ; five acres 

 of Hovey which produced 178 bushels and sold for $1260 ; 

 three acres of Hudson which produced 102 bushels and 

 sold for $530. The gross receipts from ten acres were 

 $2210. The expense of picking including boarding of 

 hands was $225 and the expense of marketing was $75. 

 The probable cost of cultivation per annum was $15 an 

 acre." Although the average price in the New York 

 market was about nine cents a quart, fancy fruit brought 

 a premium. "Fruit of high flavor," says Pardee, " meas- 

 uring from three to four inches in circumference, will com- 

 mand fifty cents per quart in New York or any other 

 market." 



Varieties. Practically all the berries marketed, except 

 in Boston, were varieties of F. virginiana, which accounts 

 for the small size. Here and there the larger and more 

 fastidious Hovey and English varieties of the Pine were 

 grown for a select trade by the initiated, but in a very 

 limited way. About 1853, William Cammack, an English 

 gardener near Washington, D. C., achieved more than a 

 local reputation growing British Queen and Victoria 



1 The Horticulturist, 1859, p. 385. * Ibid., 1855, p. 366. 



