no SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



ant agent flits from Maine to California, and too often the 

 marvellous portraits of fruits that he exhibits do not even re- 

 semble the varieties whose names they bear. It is best to 

 buy of those who have a " local habitation and a name," 

 and then, if anything is wrong, one knows where to look for 

 redress. 



Even if one wishes to be accurate, it is difficult to know 

 that one's stock is absolutely pure and true to name. The 

 evil of mixed plants is more often perpetuated in the fol- 

 lowing innocent manner than by any intentional deception : 

 For instance, one buys from a trustworthy source, as he sup- 

 poses, a thousand *' Monarch " strawberry plants, and sets 

 them out in the spring. All blossoms should be picked off 

 the first year, and, therefore, there can be no fruit as a test 

 of purity that season. But by fall there are many thousands 

 of young plants. The grower naturally says : " I bought 

 these for the Monarch, therefore they are Monarchs," and 

 he sells many plants as such. When coming into fruit the 

 second summer, he finds, however, that not one in twenty 

 is a IVIonarch plant. As an honest man, he now digs them 

 under in disgust ; but the mischief has already been done, 

 and scattered throughout the country are thousands of mixed 

 plants which multiply with the vigor of evil. Nurserymen 

 should never take varieties for granted, no matter where 

 obtained. I endeavor so to train my eye that I can detect 

 the distinguishing marks even in the foliage and blossoms, 

 and if anything looks suspicious I root it out. The foliage 

 of the Monarch of the West is so distinct that if one learns 

 to know it he can tell whether his plants are mixed at a 

 glance. 



If possible, the nurseryman should start with plants that 

 he knows to be genuine, and propagate from them. Then, 

 by constant and personal vigilance, he can maintain a stock 



