XXIII.] FIRST CROP NOT TYPICAL. 369 



plant. Sometimes the first fruit is better than the 

 later fruit and sometimes poorer, but I think that it 

 is oftener better. When the plant first begins to bear, 

 the crop may be unusually profuse or the fruit may be 

 unusually large and fair. If the originator or intro- 

 ducer draws his description from this first crop, he is 

 very likely to be disappointed in after years. On the 

 other hand, some fruits show their full merits only 

 after years of fruiting, like the Josephine de Malines 

 and other winter pears. In these cases, the impatient 

 man might destroy a meritorious variety. This danger 

 of introducing varieties which are not fully fixed or 

 whose habits are not fully known, can be avoided by 

 giving the novelties a longer trial before they are 

 introduced. Of course, the introducer feels that he 

 cannot afford to wait a few or several years before he 

 places a varietj^ upon the market. He is afraid that 

 others may introduce a similar variety, or he is impa- 

 tient for the gain and notoriety which an introduction 

 may bring. I may say, in answer to this, that the 

 novelty which has the longest record behind it is likely 

 to win the greatest favor, and therefore to bring the 

 greatest gain ; and certainly one's reputation gains 

 more from deliberate than from precipitate action. 



(2) New varieties are often not adapted to a wide 

 range of conditions. However well a variety may 

 thrive in its original place, this is little evidence that 

 it will thrive in other places. Every horticultural 

 convention affords new evidence that few varieties 

 are cosmopolitan. A few days ago I heard a spirited 

 discussion upon the merits of the Cumberland straw- 

 berry, and almost every conceivable opinion was 

 expressed concerning it. Some thought it to be 

 24 suR. 



