60 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



and stale, are devoured with unalloyed delight, under the 

 illusion that they are strawberries. 



If genuine strawberries are wanted, the purchaser must 

 demand them, pay for them, and refuse *' sour, crude ber- 

 ries." The remedy is solely in the hands of the consumers. 



If people would pay no more for Seckel than for Choke 

 pears. Choke pears would be the only ones in market, for 

 they can be furnished with the least cost and trouble. It is 

 the lack of discrimination that leaves our markets so bare 

 of fine-flavored fruit. What_ the grower and the ^ocer are_ 

 seeking is a hard berry, which, if not sold speedily, will 

 ** keep over." Let citizens clearly recognize the truth, — 

 that there are superb, delicious berries, like the Triomphe, 

 Monarch, Charles Downing, Boyden, and many others, and 

 insist on being supplied with them, just as they insist on 

 good butter and good meats, and the problem is solved. 

 The demand will create the supply ; the fruit merchant will 

 write to his country correspondents : " You must send fine- 

 flavored berries. My trade will not take any others, and I 

 can return you more money for half the quantity of fruit if 

 it is good." The most stolid of growers would soon take 

 such a hint. Moreover, let the patrons of high-priced 

 hotels and restaurants indignantly order away " sour, crude 

 berries," as they would any other inferior viand, and caterers 

 would then cease to palm off Wilsons for first-class straw- 

 berries. If these suggestions were carried out generally, the 

 character of the New York strawberry market would speedily 

 be changed. It is my impression that, within a few years, 

 only those who are able to raise larg^e, fine-flavored fruit will 

 secure very profitable returns. Moreover, we are in a tran- 

 sition state in respect to varieties, and there are scores of 

 new kinds just coming before the public, of which wonder- 

 ful things are claimed. I shall test nearly a hundred of 



