270. Sharpless is often cocKscombed and with 

 a white tip which condemns any sort for home use. 

 We want tender, rich red berries 



271. Gien Mary is one of the largest popular 

 berries, but is too coarse for beauty or excellence. 

 Has a white tip, too. Grown only where size counts 



272. Lady Thompson — very prolific, a popular 

 Southern berry for early crop. Fine form, but light 

 color, medium quality. Not grown in the North 



Better Strawberries Than You Can Buy— By James Wood 



THE BEST VARIETIES FOR HOME USE; THOSE IN WHICH FLAVOR IS EVERY- 

 THING AND SHIPPING QUALITY NOTHING — THE STANDARDS OF MERIT 



Photographs by Department of Agriculture, E. H. Favor and A. E. Hackett 



New 

 York 



STRAWBERRIES for the home garden 

 are measured by a standard of their 

 own; the markets are supplied with straw- 

 berries that are suited to market purposes. 

 One of the first considerations for market is 



273. Mulch with clean straw or salt hay before 

 the berries form, after the last cultivation. This is a 

 productive plant of the Clyde when fruit is setting 



ability to stand transportation. This means 

 a degree of firmness, or perhaps of tough- 

 ness, that will stand knocking about and will 

 keep the berries from becoming bruised by 

 the jars of rough handling. Growers for 

 market are compelled to select such varieties, 

 and sometimes this consideration is carried so 

 far as to annoy the purchaser, who finds he 

 has bought something with the texture and 

 consistency of a Russet apple or a slightly 

 modified piece of cork. 



All these considerations may be ignored in 

 selecting varieties for home use where qual- 



ity is the first object: The more delicate the 

 texture the better, if only the berries, when 

 thoroughly ripened through and through, 

 will not crush by careful picking and gentle 

 carriage to the house. Of course, a certain 

 degree of firmness is always necessary, but 

 its importance is reduced to the minimum. 



The points to be considered in valuing a 

 home berry are healthfulness and vigor in the 

 plant, beauty of form and color, creaminess 

 of texture, and agreeable flavor. I do not 

 name productiveness because great produc- 

 tiveness is not usually accompanied by high 

 quality. \A"here the ground in the home 

 garden available for strawberries is very 

 small, it may be advisable to seek a variety 

 that will give a large crop from a small area. 



Good form is important, as it is very 

 desirable to have each berry a thing of beauty 

 when placed upon the table. To most eyes 

 a rather long berry with a neck between the 

 hull and shoulder is particularly pleasing. 

 Good color is also important. Some berries, 

 otherwise good, have a dull, dead color that 

 of itself condemns them. The brighter and 

 clearer the color, whether scarlet or crim- 

 son, the better. Some of the scarlet berries 

 are white inside. The Kentucky, a very late 

 and handsome berry, is a striking example 

 of this. By most people a berry is preferred 

 that has a bright-red flesh all through. 



Most important of all the qualities, how- 

 ever, is the flavor, but for this we can fix upon 

 no uniform standard. Some persons like an 

 acid berry and some want a dead sweet one, 

 while others prefer some peculiar flavor like 

 that of the old French Hautbois or Alpine. 

 218 



"Every one to his own taste," but, whatever 

 that is, the flavor must be good of its kind. 

 As a rule, a sweet berry with a high flavor is 

 preferred. This means a proper mixture of 

 sweetness and acidity, which is the last analysis 

 of the greatest excellence, whether in fruits or 

 in human character. Fortunately the straw- 

 berry season is lengthened by the selection of 

 early, midseason, and late varieties. It is 

 quite easy to make these divisions, but it is 

 very difficult to make a gradation of the 

 varieties constituting each division. A noted 

 grower was asked at a convention whether 

 a particular variety was not earlier than any 



274. Always set out young plants. The plant on the 

 left with an old long darK-looKing stem and only a short 

 new stem and white roots above is unmistakable. A 

 young plant suitable for setting is shown on the right. 

 It has white roots and a short stem 



