CHAPTER XXXIII. 



VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES. 



n^O attempt to describe all the strawberries that have 

 been named would be a task almost as interminable 

 as useless. This whole question of varieties presents a dif- 

 ferent phase every four or five years. Therefore I treat the 

 subject in my final chapter, in order that I may give revi- 

 sion as often as there shall be occasion for it, without dis- 

 turbing the body of the book. A few years since, certain 

 varieties were making almost as great a sensation as the 

 Sharpless. They are now regarded as little better than 

 weeds, in most localities. Thus the need of frequent revi- 

 sion is clearly indicated. In chapter xiii. I have spoken of 

 those varieties that have become so well established as to be 

 regarded as standards, or which are so promising and popu- 

 lar as to deserve especial mention. More precise and tech- 

 nical descriptions will now be given. I shall not copy old 

 catalogues, or name those kinds that have passed wholly out 

 of cultivation. Such descriptions would have no practical 

 value, and the strawberry antiquarian can find them in the 

 older works on this subject. Neither shall I name many 

 foreign kinds, as the majority of them have httle value this 

 side of the Atlantic. Soil, climate, locality, and other rea- 

 sons, cause such great differences in opinion in regard to 

 varieties that I expect exceptions to be taken to every 

 description. Many of the new sorts that I am testing have 

 not, as yet, proved themselves worthy of mention. 



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