EDUCATED FRUITS 191 



Three weeks! At present, if we have plenty 

 of money, we can have them every month in the 

 year and everybody can have them six months 

 out of the twelve; partly because they come 

 first from the far South and finally from the far 

 North, but chiefly because the growers have in 

 course of time developed five types of berries — 

 the very early, early, midseason, late, and very 

 late. The word * 'everbearing," applied to any 

 particular variety, must at present be taken with 

 a grain of chloride of sodium, but we are getting 

 there. Hundreds of garden maniacs have been 

 busy trying to improve the strawberry in various 

 directions. Scarcely a dozen of them, we are 

 told by Prof. S. W. Fletcher of the Pennsylvania 

 State College (who has written a fascinating 

 book on The Strawberry in North America) 

 have had any financial reward for their efforts, 

 but creative gardening is such an enjoyable 

 occupation that few object even if it is only a 

 labor of love. 



JOHN BURROUGHS DELIGHTED 



Luther Burbank, as usual, is in the lead. 

 He has created some luscious new varieties by 

 hybridizing our best berries with choice seeds 

 from Chile and other countries where this berry 

 excels, wild or cultivated. I myself had the good 

 fortune to taste some of these one afternoon at 

 Santa Rosa, California, in company with John 

 Burroughs, who was quite ecstatic over the Pat- 



