VARIETIES. 45 



tacks the embryo fruit-stalks in the spring, thereby de- 

 stroying the most important organ of the plants. The 

 only remedy known is to immediately plow under the 

 plants and destroy the grubs while in an immature stage. 

 In my own experience, however, I have never, as yet, en- 

 countered an insect enemy of the Strawberry which could 

 not be readily vanquished by clean cultivation and fre- 

 quent renewal of the beds on plantation. 



VARIETIES. 



"What varieties to plant is one of the puzzling ques- 

 tions which every inexperienced cultivator desires to 

 have answered. If he consults the catalogues of dealers, 

 he is certain to find that the newest and highest-priced 

 variety is the one above all others that he should select. 

 But if he pursues his investigations a little farther in this 

 direction, and examines the lists of a dozen different 

 dealers in plants, he will probably find that no two agree, 

 each having some special variety to offer, as the very best 

 and most promising one known. But as society is now 

 constituted it is considered as perfectly legitimate for a 

 dealer to extol his wares, even far above what their merit 

 would warrant if the actual truth about them was told ; 

 consequently, we are not surprised to be informed by the 

 introducer of new varieties, that each and every one of- 

 fered is far superior to anything of the kind heretofore 

 known. "Yielding double the quantity of any other 

 variety " has become a stereotyped phrase in advertising 

 new varieties, and yet every experienced cultivator of 

 Strawberries knows that the Wilson, introduced nearly 

 thirty years ago, has never been excelled in productive- 

 ness. A variety, which, under the same conditions, 

 would produce double the quantity of this old favorite, 



