VA RIE TIES OF S TKA IVBERRIES. 357 



conical ; often long with a neck ; the first large berries "are 

 coxcombed and very irregular ; flesh firm, scarlet ; flavor of 

 the very best ; size 3 to 6 inches ; calyx close to spreading. 

 One of the best varieties for an amateur. Among them 

 often, without any apparent cause, are found small bushy 

 plants with smaller leaves, and berries full of " fingers and 

 toes." These should be pulled out. The variety evidently 

 contains much foreign blood, but is one of the best of the 

 class. The berries almost rival the Sharpless in size, and 

 are better in flavor, but the plant is not so good a grower. 

 Specimens have been picked measuring over eleven inches 

 in circumference. It is said to have originated with a Mr. 

 Smith, of New York city, in 1875. Staminate. 



President Wilder. — In the estimation of many good 

 judges, this is the most beautiful and best-flavored straw- 

 berry in existence, — an opinion in which I coincide. It 

 has always done well with me, and I have seen it thriving 

 in many localities. It is so fine, however, that it deserves 

 all the attention that it requires. It is a hybrid of the La 

 Constant and Hovey's seedling, and unites the good quaU- 

 ties of both, having m.uch the appearance of the beautiful 

 foreign berry, and the hardy, sun-resisting foliage of Hovey's 

 Seedling. It has a suggestion of the musky, Hautbois flavor, 

 when fully ripe, and is of a bright scarlet color, deepening into 

 crimson in maturity. Flesh quite firm, rosy white, juicy, 

 very rich and dehcious. The berry is diamond-shaped, 

 obtusely conical, very regular and uniform ; seeds yellow 

 and near the surface. The plant is low, compact, rather 

 dwarf, the young plants quite small, but the foliage endures 

 the sun well, even in the far South. The plants are more 

 productive the second year of bearing than in the first. 

 Young plants often do not form fruit buds. Mr. Merrick 

 states that it "originated with President Wilder, in 1861, 



