A B C OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 165 



but I could not read it so far off. I decided I would pick ber- 

 ries until I reached the stake ; and as I filled box after box 

 with the great beauties, my enthusiasm ran up to fever heat. 

 Said I again, "Why, I never heard of any early strawberi y 

 that gives such wonderful great fruit as this, before. The Hav- 

 erland, Jessie, and other early varieties have hardly commenced 

 to ripen. What can it be? " When I reached the stake I said, 

 " Why, you old stupid, you might have known that the rich 

 dark-green color of those great broad leaves belongs to no oth- 

 er plant in the world than to the Bubach. Three cheers for tte 

 Bubach in its perfection !" How does it come that we have 

 had Bubach all these years, and have not found out before what 

 it can do? Well, I will tell you. Almost ever since we have 

 had the Bubach the weather has been overwet. They rotted 

 before they got ripe, or were too soft and watery in taste. Just 

 now we are having a little bit of drouth, and the Bubach has 

 for the first time come to the front. Another thing, these plants 

 were growing on a strip of creek-bottom ground that has been 

 dosed and dosed with manure until everybody said I could nev- 

 er get my money back. L,et me tell you something. Strawber- 

 ries were selling up town for 12 cts. a quart. Our own brought 

 15, because they were picked only as fast as customers wanted 

 them. I put these great big Bubachs in pint boxes, and mark- 

 ed them 10 cts. a box, and they were all gone in no time. Folks 

 bought them as curiosities to show to their friends ; and after 

 they had taken a bite or two out of one of those great big ber- 

 ries they found the quality so delicious under the influence of 

 this clear hot sun from 4 in the morning till 7 in the afternoon 

 (am I putting in too much sunshine?) that they just came back 

 and wanted more of that new kind of strawberry " as big as 

 peaches ; ' ' and while I am writing this, we are picking and 

 selling more like them at 10 cts. a pint. We are now going in 

 with more enthusiasm than ever before to raise some Bubach 

 plants that will astonish some of our friends who get them, as 

 the berries astonished the Medina folks. 



Moral. Old friends are sometimes equal to or better than 

 new ones, if you wait long enough and give them a fair chance. 



The above, as you will notice, was written eight years ago 

 last June. I have tried several times to do the same thing since 

 then, but I have not succeeded in getting the Bubach as early 

 as it was that season, nor have I had as fine berries. So many dif- 

 ferent elements come in to make a success like the above that it 



