500 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Varieties of the Strawberry. Though all new varieties are tried 

 by California growers, and quite a number may be considered suc- 

 cessful either for market or for home use, only a very few may 

 be said to be widely grown. In the Watsonville district, which- 

 largely supplies San Francisco, the Melinda, which some growers 

 hold to be indistinguishable from the Dollar, is chiefly grown, with 

 Brandywine as a distant second. In the Florin district, near Sac- 

 ramento, growing berries to ship all through the northern States of 

 the coast and eastward to Colorado, the Dollar is grown almost ex- 

 clusively, with a few Jessies for extra early. Excelsior is also 

 grown. In the districts near Los Angeles, the Brandywine pre- 

 vails. It is best for shipping and is held to be sweeter than at the 

 east and next to it, in the commercial fields at the south, is Klori- 

 dyke. The Arizona Everbearing is declining in popularity al- 

 though still favored by amateurs for home use. 



Three old kinds which still hold favor for home use and local 

 sale are the Longworth Prolific, the Sharpless, and the Monarch 

 of the West. The Sharpless is the most widely grown ; the Mon- 

 arch shows better size and color in southern California and on the 

 vSierra foot-hills than in the regions adjacent to San Francisco, al- 

 though it is still grown therein to some extent. The Longworth 

 is an old favorite, early, productive, and hardy, and its style has 

 become very popular in the markets. Wilson's Albany also holds 

 favor. 



It has been demonstrated that varieties show marked difference 

 in behavior in different soils and situations. In planting for mar- 

 ket or home use the planter will be safe in making his largest plan- 

 tations of the varieties commended by leading growers and well 

 informed nurserymen, and at the same time he should put out 

 experimental plants of other varieties. 



The most notable work for new varieties in California is being 

 pursued by Albert F. Etter, of Briceland, Humboldt county. He 

 is crossing cultivated varieties with local wild species and is thus 

 introducing factors not employed hitherto with results which prom- 

 ise to be notable. His first named variety is Rose Ettersburg, 

 which is a cross of a third generation Sharpless x Parry with a 

 novel type of Fragaria Chiloensis. It has remarkable drouth resis- 

 tance and thrift on poor soils. The blossoms are often as large 

 as a silver dollar, the berries large, often 1^ inches in diameter, and 

 blush pink in color. Single stocks from sets 18 months out meas- 

 ured 22 inches high and over 10 feet in circumferance. Mr. Etter's 

 work is described in detail in the Pacific Rural Press for August 22 

 and 29 and September 5 and 19, 1908, and is very interesting. 



