NEW VARIETIES— HYBRIDIZATION. I91 



The public, however, will suffer many disappointments, 

 and every year will buy thousands of some extravagantly 

 praised and high-priced new variety, in hope of obtaining 

 the ideal strawberry ; and they so often get a good thing 

 among the blanks that they seem disposed to continue in- 

 definitely this mild form of speculation. In the final result 

 merit asserts itself, and there is a survival of the fittest. 

 The process of winnowing the wheat from the chaff is a 

 costly one to many, however. I have paid hundreds of 

 dollars for varieties that I now regard as little better than 

 weeds. From thorough knowledge of the best kinds already 

 in cultivation, the propagator should not impose any second- 

 rate kind on the public. And yet the public, or the law 

 which the public sustains, renders this duty difficult. If a 

 man invents a peculiar nutmeg-grater, his patent protects 

 him ; but if he discovers, or originates, a fruit that enriches 

 the world, any one who can get it, by fair means or foul, 

 may propagate and sell to all. To reap any advantages, 

 the originator must put his seedhng, which may have cost 

 him years of effort, into the market before it is fully and 

 widely tested. If he sends it for trial to other localities, 

 there is much danger of its falling into improper hands. 

 The variety may do splendidly in its native garden, and yet 

 not be adapted to general cultivation. This fact, which 

 might have been learned by trial throughout the country 

 before being sent out, if there was protective law, is learned 

 afterward, to the cost of the majority who buy. In view of 

 the above considerations, it is doubtful whether the pecuni- 

 ary reward will often repay for the time, trouble, and ex- 

 pense which is usually required to produce a variety worthy 

 of general introduction. Other motives than money must 

 actuate. As Mr. Durand once said, vv^hen so perplexed by 

 ^the difficulties and compUcations of his. Labor, and so dis- 



