SMALL FRUITS. 47 



practice would be labor lost, even if it were not a detri- 

 ment. Neither will we attempt to say Avhich are the best 

 in quality, because climate as well as soils often makes a 

 great change in this respect, and a variety that would be 

 too acid on a heavy soil or in a northern climate might be 

 so affected by change as to be really good in a light sandy 

 soil or in a warmer climate. Besides the foregoing diffi- 

 culties, we encounter the tastes of different growers and 

 consumers. We are often amused, as well as instructed, in 

 visiting amateurs and nurserymen and walking through 

 their grounds ; tasting the different fruits, we can soon dis- 

 cover in Avhat particular channel their individual taste is 

 inclined. A fruit to suit one must be of a decided charac- 

 ter, a sprightly acid being the favorite ; while another 

 grower's taste runs all to the saccharine; and if the fruit is 

 not Aery sAveet, it is at once pronounced Avorthless because 

 too acid. Another class of groAvers are fully satisfied with 

 an abundant crop, if it can be produced with A'ery little 

 expense. 



Taking into consideration the different ideas and tastes 

 of cultivators, Ave can readily account for the diversity of 

 opinions expressed by the A^arious straAvberry-growers. If 

 Ave should giA^e a list of tAvelve varieties, Avhich have ac- 

 tually proA^ed to be the best out of the five hundred Ave 

 have tested, ^. e., those Avhich have succeeded best on our 

 grounds and are most agreeable to our palate, Ave are quite 

 certain th^re is not another grower in the Avhole country 

 that Avould say Amen. And we are equally certain that no 

 one Avould name tAvelve varieties that Avould be as accept- 

 able to us as our own list. 



