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CHAPTER XXXIII. 



VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES. 



TO attempt to describe all the strawberries that have been named 

 would be a task almost as interminable as useless. This whole ques- 

 tion of varieties presents a different phase every four or five years. 

 Therefore, I treat the subject in my final chapter, in order that I may give 

 revision as often as there shall be occasion for it, without disturbing the 

 body of the book. A few years since, certain varieties were making almost 

 as great a sensation as the Sharpless. They are now regarded as little 

 better than weeds, in most localities. Thus, the need of frequent revision 

 is clearly indicated. In chapter xiii. I have spoken of those varieties that 

 have become so well established as to be regarded as standards, or which 

 are so promising and popular as to deserve especial mention. More 

 precise and technical descriptions will now be given. I shall not copy old 

 catalogues, or name those kinds that have passed wholly out of cultivation. 

 Such descriptions would have no practical value, and the strawberry 

 antiquarian can find them in the older works on this subject. Neither 

 shall I name many foreign kinds, as the majority of them have little 

 value this side of the Atlantic. Soil, climate, locality, and other 

 reasons, cause such great differences in opinion in regard to varieties that 

 I expect exceptions to be taken to every description. Many of the new 

 sorts that I am testing have not, as yet, proved themselves worthy of 

 mention. 



