^2 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



myself are in the old rats ; he advised us to get out of them ; he 

 didn't want us to cultivate the old sorts, and out of 300 varieties 

 he gave ten or twelve worthy of cultivation. In Garden Notes, he 

 mentions but seven varieties. Think of it ; only ten or twelve out 

 of 300. Buying the plants by the dozen, they will cost from $3.50 

 to $6 a dozen. I don't think he really advises any one to do that. 

 That work belongs to the Experiment Station, but it is the wa}^ he 

 does. There are so many new varieties, that the Experiment Sta- 

 tion can find out what varieties are hardy and productive and tell 

 us whether it is a fruit desirable for the market. Reports from the 

 Experiment Station place the Bubach ahead ; — I have it side by side 

 with the Crescent and 1 don't think it will give me the amount of 

 fruit that I get from the old Crescent seedling. 



Of the new varieties, the Jessie, Bubach and Eureka are three 

 kinds I am interested in and have on trial. I don't try any variety 

 in field culture until I have thoroughly tested it. The varieties that 

 ^re promising from the outlook are Mitchell's Early, Gaudy, War- 

 field and Middlefield. I have a communication from C. E. Hunt 

 of the Geneva Station, N. Y. 1 asked him the variety that was 

 cultivated to the greatest extent and got the word back the 

 Crescent ; but in certain localities other varieties have taken its 

 place. I don't know as it will under the highest cultivation and in 

 the hands of experts do as well as some others, but I know of none 

 better than the Crescent. All strawberries differ in disposition, as 

 people, and there are plenty of varieties to suit every taste. If 

 you haven't the variety to suit you, you must find one that does. 

 I have a friend in Rockland near the coast ; the soil is almost like 

 the flats — heavy soil. He has tried a great many varieties and has 

 discarded them all but the Wilson. That is an old berry, almost 

 the first one. The Wisconsin growers go for the Crescent, and 

 they grow very largely what we do in Maine. 



A word as to marketing, a very important branch of farming 

 business. If you grow a fine crop j^ou must put it upon the market 

 at the right time and shape. We have one buyer in Knox county, 

 who I think is the best judge of fruit I have ever met, whether for- 

 eign or domestic. 



I have sold him Roxbury Russets for five dollars a barrel, when 

 he could buy them on the street from three dollars to four dollars, 

 l3ecause he knew he could depend upon their being perfect. When 



