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if ever ill-shaped. They are of the brightest 
crimson, excel in firmness any variety ex- 
cept Wilson, which they equal, retain their 
bright color and “stand up” longer than any 
other sort, and are of superb quality. In brief 
it is an improvement upon both the Cres- 
cent and Wilson, from which two varieties 
it has undoubtedly descended, being much 
larger than either and equalling or excel- 
ling those heroes in every good property. 
Gandy as a choice late sort is an entire 
success. In size and firmness it is all that 
can be desired, and in vigor and growth it 
is satisfactory, but under ordinary culture 
its yield is not so great as many expect. 
Like the Sharpless it does not require espe- 
cially heavy soil yet, in common with all 
extra large berries, it does require a gener- 
ous supply of fertilizers in order to obtain 
a generous supply of fruit from it. 
Michel’s Early is the earliest, i. e. , ri- 
pens its entire crop the earliest of any vari- 
ety I have yet fruited, and the berries are 
of fair size. In quality and quantity a poor 
medium. 
Parker Earle. I was afraid this was 
not going to prove worthy of the name it 
Yale. Fig. 456. 
bears, but I am happy to record that I was 
wrong. What a glorious variety it is in- 
deed! For beauty, yield and mild, pleasant 
flavor, it will be a long while before a supe- 
rior will likely be found. It is not, how- 
ever, firm enough for shipping well. 
Stayman’s No. 1 does not succeed at 
Monmouth. The plant is a poor grower 
and does not produce enough fruit to really 
tell what it ought to be like. 
Shuster's Gem holds its own as a beauti- 
ful, prolific berry of large size. There is 
yet to appear the variety of a brighter 
flame-colored scarlet. As a market berry 
its only weakness is its lack of firmness; as 
a berry for the home garden it has none. 
Mark is remarkable in its lack of merit 
at Monmouth, being a poor grower, poor in 
quality, unproductive and ugly. It is, how- 
ever, a descendant of the royal Jucunda 
family, and soil and culture may make a 
great difference to it as soil and culture 
often do to those descendants of aristocratic 
lineage. 
Mrs. Cleveland is just the reverse of 
the last named. She is truly democratic 
and is so attractive as to at once arrest one’s 
attention among acres of others. The plant 
is simply perfection; the berries of good 
size, form and color,- — beautiful and so 
sweet. Strange to record, the variety is de- 
cidedly prolific. 
Edgar Queen is all right in everything 
Waldron. Fig. 455. 
except its name. It is a sort of glorified 
Sharpless, resembling that variety very 
closely in both plant and fruit, but it has a 
pistillate blossom and yields fully double 
the quantity of fruit of the Sharpless. 
Jucunda Improved has been again one 
of the tinest and most attractive of sorts, 
the berries resembling closely the old fav- 
orite, and the plant growing and yielding 
splendidly without petting. 
Lady Rusk has proved neither a decided 
success nor a decided failure — about “half 
and half” one might say. In yield it was 
all one need ask and the berries were firm 
but lacked size and beauty. The plant 
seemed to suffer greatly by the drought 
and I am satisfied that, on heavy soil or in 
a more favorable season it would be a de- 
cidedly profitable variety for market. 
Walton failed utterly. The plant suc- 
cumbed to the unfavorable weather, hence 
the berries were poor, small and very scat- 
tering. 
Waldron is a decided success. Plant a 
strong grower and clean; berries large to 
Beebe. Fig. 453. 
very large and produced in profusion. It 
does not appear to be very firm and is not 
especially attractive, but on the whole pos- 
sesses, I think, much value. 
Eureka has merit also. The plant is not 
of the strongest growth but healthy, and 
the fruit is fine and produced very freely. 
It is also quite firm, fairly attractive and 
good. 
Florence is another descendant of the 
Jucunda, giving handsome berries of good 
size but in limited numbers. It is unsuited 
to Monmouth as it requires a heavy, cold 
soil. The plant is, however, a better grow- 
er than its parent. 
Sadie grows well and is wonderfully pro- 
lific but the berries are so small as to ren- 
der it valueless, in fact they were so small 
even at the first of the season that it was 
not worth while to gather them. If they 
grew in bunches like grapes and currants 
it might have value for culinary purposes. 
Iowa Beauty is a perfect beauty indeed. 
I have now seen it in bearing for two years 
and so far as beauty, form and color go it 
excels all varieties thus far brought for- 
ward. In quality it equals its good looks 
and the plant is a good though not strong 
grower and an abundant yielder. Like Ma- 
dame Recamier this is certain to become 
celebrated. 
Viola is the old Monarch of the West un- 
der a new name. — J. T. Lovett. 
Specimen Beds on the Farm. 
In extending and enlarging his strawber- 
ry plantations a man is guided largely by 
the behavior of those sorts he has in fruit- 
ing. It is therefore a prudent and sensible 
thing for him to have somewhere on his 
fruit farm a test bed where he may have 
specimens of all the new sorts as they are 
introduced. It is not necessary to make a 
large purchase, half a dozen plants of each 
are ample. These 'will make quite an addi- 
tional number of plants which will be val- 
uable if it is decided later to plant that va- 
riety largely, and will be worth more than 
the original cost of the first plants. Then 
there is the pleasure and interest of watch- 
ing the growth of these new sorts and not- 
ing their merits or defects, and it is very 
satisfactory to be able to speak and write 
intelligently of the newer sorts of fruit, to 
say nothing of the importance attaching to 
a garden which has all the novelties in 
fruiting to show to enquiring fruitgrowers 
and newspaper men. 
