IDEAL AND MARKET STRAWBERRIES. 59 



supplied by a better berry, be banished from the market. It 

 can surely be no difficult thing to obtain a sort by crossing, 

 which shall bear transportation equally well, and shall not 

 deceive the purchaser with the appearance of ripeness. 



The reader will perceive that Mr. Bryant has portrayed 

 both the evil and the remedy. The public justly complains 

 of the strawberry of commerce, but it has not followed the 

 suggestion in the editorial and demanded a better article, 

 even though it must be furnished at a higher price. 



In spite, however, of all that is said and written annually 

 against the Wilson, it still maintains its supremacy as the 

 market berry. Those who reside near the city and can 

 make, to some extent, special arrangements with enlightened 

 customers, find other varieties more profitable, even though 

 the yield from them is less and some are lost from lack of 

 keeping qualities. But those who send from a considerable 

 distance, and must take their chances in the general market, 

 persist in raising the " sour, crude berry," which is red be- 

 fore it is ripe, and hard enough to stand the rough usage 

 which it is almost certain to receive from the hands through 

 which it passes. I do not expect to see the day when the 

 Wilson, or some berry like it, is not the staple supply of the 

 market ; although I hope and think it will be improved up- 

 on. But let it be understood generally that they are Wil- 

 so?iSj — the cheap vin ordinaire of strawberries. Cities will 

 ever be flooded with varieties that anybody can grow under 

 almost any kind of culture ; and no doubt it is better that 

 there should be an abundance of such fruit rather than none 

 at all. But a delicately organized man, like Mr. Bryant, 

 cannot eat them ; and those who have enjoyed the genuine 

 strawberries of the garden will not. The number of people, 

 however, with the digestion of an ostrich, is enormous, and 

 in multitudes of homes Wilsons, even when half-ripe, musty, 



