52 The Strawberry Book. 



native wild strawberries have a delicious aroma, which is 

 wholly absent in many of the largest kinds. 



Some varieties have a brisk, refreshing, vinous juice, 

 others are simply juicy and sweet, while some are sweet, 

 dry, and almost juiceless. In the first class we might put 

 the Due de Malakoff, Vineuse de Nantes, and La Con- 

 stante among foreign kinds, and the Hovey, President 

 Wilder, and Lennig's White among native varieties ; in 

 the second class we might put Marguerite and Bijou ; and 

 of the third, the Austin, as I have seen it, and Madame 

 Collonge among foreign kinds, are excellent representa- 

 tives. 



The flavor and taste of most varieties of strawberries 

 are necessarily sui generis, and incapable of exact descrip- 

 tion, or comparison with other fruits. The exquisite taste 

 of a Brooklyn Scarlet or of a Rivers's Eliza cannot be set 

 forth in w r ords any easier than the flavor of a Beurre 

 d'Anjou pear or a Northern Spy apple. 



In the market, size and color rule. At the table of the 

 amateur, size and color both come into consideration, but 

 are subordinate to flavor. Many a grower raises for sale 

 large crops of berries, like the Wilson, which he himself 

 does not deign to eat, having his own private bed of Len- 

 nig's White or Hovey, or some still rarer kind, to supply 

 himself and his family. In fact, I know dealers who, in 

 conversation upon strawberries, always make a wide dis- 

 tinction between berries that are good to sell and those 

 that are good to eat. 



The education of the public taste is only a question of 

 time. Already there are some slight indications of im- 

 provement. The public has found that Hovey's Seedling 

 is better than the Wilson ; and La Constante, Triomphe de 

 Gand, and Jucunda have been promoted from amateur to 

 market varieties. Yet, to be strictly correct, we might 

 perhaps add, that the enormou% size to which the last- 

 named variety can be grown, has, probably, had much to 



