DESIRABLE CHARACTERS IN A VARIETY 183 



the dry matter averaged but 9.5 per cent, less than in any 

 other fruit, apples having 16 to 20 per cent, pears 15 to 20 

 per cent, peaches (flesh) 11 to 14 per cent, plums (flesh) 

 18 to 20 per cent, currants 11 to 14 per cent, grapes 15 to 

 20 per cent. About one-half of the dry matter is glucose. 

 The free acid in strawberries is largely malic; in his 

 samples it averaged 1.37 per cent of the dry matter, while 

 in apples it averages 0.8 per cent ; pears, 0.2 per cent ; 

 plums, 0.9 per cent ; currants, 4.7 per cent. The large 

 amount of acid in the strawberry, as compared with 

 other dessert fruits, is responsible for its disfavor with a 

 few persons. 



Are wild strawberries sweeter than cultivated varieties ? 

 Fragrant memories of the wild strawberries of our child- 

 hood make them seem sweeter than they really were. Most 

 wild strawberries are sourer than the best cultivated vari- 

 eties. W. E. Stone found the proportion of acid to sugar 

 in wild strawberries to be 1 to 2. In cultivated varieties 

 it was 1 to 3.5. According to Shaw, an average of North 

 American analyses shows a ratio of acid to sugar of 1 to 

 7, and, of European analyses, 1 to 5. In 1879, Goessman 

 found the ratio in wild strawberries to be 1 to 2. It is 

 quite evident that there has been a marked improvement 

 in the sweetness of strawberries since they were brought 

 under cultivation. The sweetest berries, except those of 

 memory, are no longer in the woods and meadows ; they 

 are in the gardens. This applies, however, only to berries 

 that are allowed to stay on the vines until fully ripe ; most 

 of the berries on the market are sour, because they were 

 picked green. 



The best European varieties are sweeter than ours, 

 as is shown by the analyses of Stone and Shaw. The 

 latter gives the following table : 



