Varieties of Strawberries. 299 



Royal Hautbois. Said to be one of the largest, most vigorous, and 

 productive of this class. 



Mr. Merrick writes that the Hautbois strawberries find few admirers in 

 the vicinity of Boston, and seem equally neglected abroad. 



I am gathering these and the Alpines into trial-beds, and thus hope 

 to learn more accurately their differences, characteristics and comparative 

 values. 



Chili strawberries are now rarely met with in cultivation. Mr. Merrick 

 writes of them : "Although some of them are extolled for amateur culture, 

 they are of little value. They are large, coarse, very apt to be hollow, 

 with soft, poor-flavored flesh. They have been so thoroughly intermingled 

 with other species that it is difficult to say of certain named kinds that 

 they are or are not partly Chilis." True Chili, Wilmot's Superb, and 

 the Yellow Chili are named as the best of the class. 



There are very many other named strawberries that I might describe, 

 and a few of them may become popular. Some that I have named are 

 scarcely worth the space, and will soon be forgotten. In my next revision, 

 I expect to drop not a few of them. It should be our constant aim to 

 shorten our catalogues of fruits rather than lengthen them to the bewilder- 

 ment and loss of all save the plant grower. The Duchess, for instance, is 

 -a first-class early berry. All others having the same general character- 

 istics and adapted to the same soils, but which are inferior to it, should 

 be discarded. What is the use of raising second, third and fourth rate 

 berries of the same class ? Where distinctions are so slight as to puzzle 

 an expert they should be ignored, and the best variety of the class 

 preserved. 



I refer those readers who would like to see a list of almost every 

 strawberry named in modern times, native and foreign, to Mr. J. M. 

 Merrick's work, "The Strawberry and its Culture." 



