PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 115 



Of the American Scarlet and Iowa families, the following are also new 

 and rare, and cannot at present be obtained at a moderate price, so as to 

 be introduced into field culture for market, as they will be when they 

 become more plentiful; Eureka and Princess, the two best; American 

 Queen, Angelique, Augustine, Benicea, Beatrice, Bersilla, Ernestine, 

 Eugene, Excelsa, Fontenelle, Fortunatus, Heroine, Lawrencea, Pauline, 

 Melanie, Prince's Large Climax and Scarlet Excelsior, Rosina, and others. 



The only other classes of strawberries worthy of special notice are the 

 Hautbois familj^, the best of which are Belle Bordelaise, Bijou des Praises, 

 and the Monstrous berried ; the European Wood family, of which the 

 Green Pineapple and Bargemen are the most delicious and aromatic; and 

 •the Alpine Everbearing family, the best of which are Peine des Quatre 

 Saisons, Poiteau, Gloire du Nord, and Versailles. When judiciously culti- 

 vated, the different families will form a continuous chain of fruit-bearing 

 varieties, from the beginning of June until vegetation is arrested by the 

 frosts of autumn. 



In. an analysis of the species and different varieties of strawberries 

 which are now grown on the market farms throughout the Union, we arrive 

 at the remarkable fact, that these plantations, which were originally com- 

 menced with the Early Scarlet and other varieties of the Virginiana 

 family, have become gradually changed by the adoption of other varieties, 

 and that at the present time fully three-fourths of the entire area occupied 

 by the strawberry culture is comprised of varieties of the Iowa species or 

 family. These are not only more hardy, robust and vigorous than the 

 varieties of the Virginiana family, but the berries of most of the varieties 

 are much larger, as well as more beautiful and attractive. The crop is 

 also greater and more permanent and reliable. All these are highly im- 

 portant points to the market grower. This is the only species of the 

 Fragaria family whose predominating color is orange-scarlet. 



The varieties which have now become most prominent in field culture 

 are, first, the original Iowa, called Washington, at Cincinnati, hermaphro- 

 dite, with large, vigorous foliage, and large flowers. This produces a fail 

 crop of large, early-ripening berries; second, the seedling hermaphrodites, 

 and more especially the pistillate varieties which have been produced from 

 this parentage. The best of these are the Diadem, Stewart, Suprema, Tri- 

 umphant Scarlet, Seraphine, Triumvirate, Victorine, Coppock, Prince's Late 

 Globe, Globose Scarlet, Longworth's Prolific, and Melanie. The Austin, 

 Chorlton, and Russell's are of this family, the two first of which are too 

 acid and soft, and the third apparently defective in several points requisite 

 for a market berry, but has yet to be fully tested. In Iowa and other 

 western States where this species is found in a state of nature, the latitude 

 is not so high as some other regions where strawberries are found, but the 

 winter cold is so intense that the mercury sinks as low as in some more 

 northern latitudes. 



The Hovey strawberry is generall}^ cultivated with success; but at the 

 recent Pomological Convention there were some who stated they could 

 not succeed with the Hovey, and it seemed very obvious they did net 

 understand its proper culture. At Belmont and West Cambridge, Mass., 

 where they are so eminently successful, they rely on but one crop. They 



