THE CANADIAN nORTICDLTURIST. 



129 



fjictor, provided that they be in kind 

 good, and that he tells us how to do it. 

 JoHX Croil. 



Aultsville, April, 1885. 



SOME MARKET S TEAWBERRIES. 



BY T. C. ROBINSON, OWEN SOUND. 



Wilson. — This is the most famous 

 Strawberry yet seen in America, and 

 without a doubt it has well deserved its 

 fame. 



Probably if it had not been origin- 

 ated till the present time it would win 

 very little attention in competition with 

 the improved varieties lately introduced. 

 But coming when it did with no other 

 large, good shipping and very pi'oductive 

 variety then in existence, its sudden 

 popularity is not to be wondered at. 

 No fruit perhaps has received more 

 opi)Osition, not to say abuse. Its too 

 dark color when over ripe, and especi- 

 ally, its magnijicent tartness, furnished 

 many a writer with matter for jest. 

 But the men who don't toork for fun, 

 but grow berries for money finding the 

 Wilson to ship well and give more 

 do! lars to the acre, with less labor than 

 the high toned sorts demanded stuck 

 so close to the Wilson, that to this day 

 there are probably ten times as many 

 Wilson strawberries slipping annually 

 down chuckling Canadian throats 

 than there are of all other varieties 

 combined. True it is sour — don't let 

 us attempt to deny such a self-evident 

 fact. And in spite of the courageous 

 assurances of some men that they like 

 sour berries let us stick to it that it is 

 too sour to just suit the public. And 

 it is often small, too small with ordinary 

 treatment. But it is pretty, it does 

 ship well, the people do buy it fast, 

 when they cannot get anything better, 

 (and they generally can't) and it is 

 immensely productive, where it suc- 

 ceeds. 



But it does not succeed in many 

 places. In the States the plant has 



become so feeble from the red fungus 

 called rust (sun scorching) in many 

 localities that it has ah-eady been largely 

 superseded in many markets. Even in 

 Canada, on sandy soil near Lake Ont- 

 ario I have seen it so feeble that some 

 plants set out for forming matted rows 

 had grown unrestrictedly the summer 

 through without sending out more than 

 two or three runners from each plant 

 in the row. I think this failure arises 

 largely from pi'opagating from exhausted 

 old plants, and also from lack of under- 

 standing the kind of soil it is suited to. 

 Most market gi-owers have planted on 

 sandy land perhaps because it is so 

 easily worked. But if they would tiy 

 it on good clay loam and mulch it to 

 keep the roots from heaving out in 

 winter, they would probably be amazed 

 at the difference. 



But making allowance for all this, 

 and for its almost youthful vigor and 

 health in the northern and cooler dis- 

 tricts in Canada, wemust yetexpect it to 

 fail at no distant date, and look alive for 

 something to supply its place. 



Let us frankly confess that for good 

 clay loam we have tested nothing yet 

 that will just fill its place as a shipping 

 berry ; we have other exceedingly pro- 

 ductive sorts, but they are not firm 

 enough : we have other varieties that 

 are firm enough but they are not suffi- 

 ciently productive with like culture. 



But on sandy land the case is diff- 

 erent. 



Tlie Crescent. — (first known RsCrescent 

 Seedling, " Pai-melee's Crescent Seedling " 

 ((.'c.) is more on such light soils then the 

 Wilson ever was. The way in which 

 the wiry little plants creep swiftly 

 over an ugly sand bank under the hot 

 sun, spending as little sap as possible on 

 extra leaves and laying up all they can 

 in fruit buds for next year's crop is sure 

 to delight the fruit grower who has 

 gazed in despair at his long cheiished 

 laut wilting Wilsons. Why. I have seen 



