AUGUST. 383 



Fruit Committee a Special Committee to visit the several strawberry plan- 

 tations in the vicinity, and report upon their relative merits for general cul- 

 tivation, &c., I really hoped that the question would receive that candid in- 

 vestigation wliich the intelligence and acknowledged ability of the "major- 

 ity" of that Committee would seem to warrant. Whether our own expec- 

 tations have been realized will be shown in this article. 



The public have forgotten (if members of this Society would willingly 

 blind themselves to the fact) the origin of the present strawberry controver- 

 sy. Mr. Longworth stated in a communication in the Cincinnati Times, 

 that " many years have passed since ive. threw aside Hovey^s Seedling, because 

 nine-tenths of the berries ivere of small size, and the fruit not of superior 

 quality.^'' 



To this sentiment exceptions were taken, which resulted in a majority 

 and also a minority Report ; the former signed by Messrs. S. S. Jackson, 

 E. J. Hooper, M. McWilliams, and Robert Riley, four members ; the latter 

 by myself. 



The majority Report was quite brief, and you, Mr. President, considered 

 it " to the point" — the whole thing contained in a " nut-shell." Now, sir, I 

 propose quoting from that brief document. It says : " For size of berries 

 and hardihood of plants, they (the Committee) know of no strawberry better 

 than McAvoy's Superior. In prolific qualities it is surpassed by few wor- 

 thy of cultivation, but their experience, so far as the good market qualities 

 of strawberries are concerned, at the present time, is, that there is no rival 

 to Hovey's Seedling, it being, in their opinion, more popular with our mar- 

 ket gardeners who supply Cincinnati than any other kind ; at the same 

 time they hesitate not to say that Hovey's Seedling is not equal to McAvoy's 

 Superior in flavor." 



This language, it will be recollected, was used by the " majority," before 

 the majority of the strawberry crop of the present summer. In their subse- 

 quent Report the same gentlemen use the following language : 



" With regard to Hovey's Seedling your Committee, until other berries 

 have been properly and completely tested, in the same soils, and under the 

 same circumstances, or under those circumstances at least best suited to 

 their particular requirements, cannot but arrive at the conclusion that, un- 

 der all the respects in which they have been able to examine it, it is at this 

 time one of the very best fruit of the kind for general, or at any rate, mar- 

 ket cultivation ; for its large size and uniform shape, its very good and sweet 

 flavor when fully matured, its fair yield of large berries even after the 

 largest one of the bunch, its brilliant color when nearly ripe, and its rich 

 deeper shade when fully ripe ; its firmness for carriage and maintaininent 

 of firm texture, and fine appearance for many hours afl;er being gathered; 

 its hardiness and vigor, its general adaptation to nearly all soils, and its 

 easy impregnation, combine to render it, in your Committee's estimation, 

 one of the most prominent, valuable and reliable berries in the country, in 

 general cultivation, with which we are acquainted." 



Now, sir, I claim this sentiment is a great leap from the " tame" expres- 

 sion of the majority in their first Report, and would have received my un- 



