VI 



DESCRIBING STRAWBERRIES 



NOT much really good systematic work has 

 been done with strawberries in this country. 

 One might have expected something first-rate 

 in this line, considering the commercial and 

 domestic importance of the strawberry in 

 America, and the very general distribution of 

 the plant from Florida to northern Canada. 

 Many descriptions of varieties have been 

 made and may be consulted in books, bulle- 

 tins, and catalogs, yet all of them leave much 

 to be desired. No definite and comprehen- 

 sive form of description seems ever to have 

 come into use, and most of the descriptions 

 which one finds are fragmentary as to quali- 

 ties named and vague in characterization. 

 From every point of view the strawberry de- 

 serves better study at the hands of American 

 pomologists, and it is greatly to be hoped 

 that the present revival of interest in system- 

 atic pomology will soon turn attention to this 

 need. 



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