GOOD THINGS TO EAT 151 



just failed to connect at all. A strawberry-grower 

 sent me samples of berries one autumn, but they 

 tasted more of the cotton they were packed in 

 than like the red fruit I knew. Early this spring 

 I visited a strawberry-grower in Maryland, my 

 friend Allen, who has actually millions of plants 

 in his level fields. He showed me his Progressive 

 variety, which, he asserted, was a real strawberry 

 that would bear fruit in the fall, and was worth 

 while. I know he knows, and I took his word 

 against my skepticism. The one hundred try- 

 out plants came and were set on April twenty- 

 seventh, quite late for my location. They were 

 well cared for, and as per instructions, the earlier 

 blossoms and some plants were in bloom by May 

 twentieth! were picked off. About the first of 

 August, on a trip home, I found a new setting of 

 blossoms; and these were not disturbed; but the 

 plants were carefully mulched, and several times 

 watered during the bitter drought that followed. 

 The lovely, sweet and high-flavored fruit I am now 

 enjoying is the result; and as blossoms and green 

 fruits are crowding the ripening berries, I expect 

 there will be strawberries for some weeks. 



The difference between these September Pro- 

 gressives and the usual crop in June is that all of 

 these are sweet and high-flavored, while some of 



