STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 127 



APPROVED VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES. 



Mr. L J. B"'armer in an excellent paper on "Strawberries" pre- 

 sented to the Western N. Y. Horticultural Society the following data 

 regarding varieties. They are too good to lose and we give them a 

 place in the Secretary's Portfolio : 



Soil, climate, mode of culture and other causes determine the value 

 of a variety for any special location. Most varieties do best in the 

 locality where they originate. A few seem to do well everywhere. 

 Pistillates are usually more productive and hardy than hermaphro- 

 dites, but not always so. Varieties that produce lots of runners do 

 best on sandy or porous soil. When planted on clay they run too 

 much to vines and produce only small inferior fruits. Varieties of 

 slow growth like Sharpless, Bubach and Wilson, that make large 

 plants and few of them, do best on a soil made up largely of clay. 

 Most varieties do best in a moist season but Haverland, Parker 

 Earle and a few others seem to prefer a dry season. There are 

 varieties that will stand almost any amount of fertility and produce 

 correspondingly large crops. Other varieties require only a moder- 

 ate amount of fertilit}' and run to vines if too highly enriched. This 

 only goes to prove that in order to be always sure of a crop, we 

 must grow several varieties. Before accepting the advice of any- 

 one as to which is the best variety to plant, the grower should first 

 see that the conditions are the same. For instance, our soil is a 

 stony loam while the soil at the Geneva, N. Y. Station, is a tena- 

 cious clay loam. Varieties that are a success with us are often a 

 failure at the Station and vice versa. No one can accurately decide 

 as to the merits of a variety from one year's test. It takes at least 

 two different seasons and often more. 



The six best varieties among those that have been thoroughly tested 

 at our place are Warfield, Haverland, Michel's Early for early, and 

 Eureka, Paiker Earle, and Burt lor late. These six meet all wants 

 with us. 



Warfield resembled Crescent in growth and Wilson in fruit. The 

 berries are of a dark color, very glossy, and sell up with the largest 

 varieties on account of their beautiful color and firmness. The 

 plants are ver^' small when young, but have great vitality and by 

 fall cover the surface. This variety with a proper fertilizer takes 

 the place of both Wilson and Crescent. 



