The Strawberry Book. 53 



do with its advance in public favor, for in many soils it is 

 somewhat deficient in flavor. 



To sum up, we may consider it certain that people who 

 love strawberries well enough to buy and eat berries so 

 poor as some of our market varieties are, would gladly 

 apply themselves to the education of their taste on better 

 kinds, if they could get them. 



The Chili strawberries, although some of them are ex- 

 tolled for amateur culture, are of little value. They are 

 large, coarse, very apt to be hollow, with soft, poor-flavored 

 flesh. They have been so thoroughly intermingled with 

 other species, that it is very difficult to say of certain named 

 kinds that they are or are not partly Chilis. 



The Chili Orange and Wilmot's Superb are pretty good 

 types of this class. The Lucida Perfecta I have fruited 

 three seasons, and find it worthless in this climate. It is 

 set down as a Chili, or a hybrid-Chili, in the catalogues. 

 The Souvenir de Nantes and Madame Eliza Vilmorin I 

 know only by reputation. 



Hautbois strawberries find very few admirers in this 

 part of the country. La Belle Bordelaise, Royal Haut- 

 bois, and perhaps Bijou des Fraises are the best of the 

 class. Hautbois strawberries seem to be equally neglected 

 abroad. 



It is a common question to" ask a person who has tested 

 many varieties of strawberries what kinds he recommends 

 for general cultivation, and the writers in the horticultural 

 journals occasionally favor us with a revised list of the best 

 sorts. Yet to make out a catalogue of six varieties for two 

 different localities is a very difficult task. Still some gen- 

 eral idea may be given to a beginner of the kinds it will 

 be well for him to get together ; and he may have those 

 pointed out that will bear neglect, and those that need 

 careful culture. 



If but one variety is desired, and if that must be one 

 that will bear neglect, and produce a tolerable crop some- 



