AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
159 
BY DR. I. M. WARS—NEWARK, N. J. 
What cries through the streets are more 
grateful to the ear, or more potent in causing 
the mouth to water, than the words we have 
taken for our caption 1 ? We beg you, gentle 
reader not to suppose your palates are now 
to be regaled with this most luscious of the 
smaller fruits. The snow that covers our 
beds must first be dissolved by the genial 
rays of the vernal sun—then pf all the fruits 
that grow, will the strawberry first throw up 
its tender crown, spread out its fingery 
leaves to drink in from the earth and at¬ 
mosphere the sustenance nature has adapt¬ 
ed to its wants, that ere long will whiten the 
surface with its flowery covering, and then 
with rapid strides, develop that delicious 
crimson morsel, the sight of which moved 
the poet to sing : 
" A dish of ripe strawberries smothered in cream.” 
Strawberries are universally loved.— 
Downing says : “ We have heard of indi¬ 
viduals who really did not by nature relish 
strawberries,” but we confess we have al¬ 
ways had the same doubt of their existence 
as we have of that of the Unicorn. But our 
task is not now to write in praise of the 
strawberry, its deliciousness or wholesome¬ 
ness, although, as a physician, we might 
claim to say it is a great promoter of diges¬ 
tion, containing so abundantly that mild veg¬ 
etable acid our natures demandat the return 
of the season that ushers it in. So medicinal 
is it regarded, that the celebrated Botanist, 
Linnaeus, is said to have cured himself of a 
fit of the gout by partaking freely of the 
strawberry. 
Nor have we anything at present to say to 
the amateur, for we have taken pen in hand 
for the ‘million.’ In their behalf we approach 
the market grower, to discuss with him the 
varieties best adapted to market, that will 
bear carriage well, and be most remunera¬ 
ting—rewarding him most abundantly for 
his attention to it as a field crop. 
It has been said, that as many bushels of 
strawberries can be grown per acre as of 
potatoes, a fact, startling as it at first may 
seem, we are now prepared to credit, espe¬ 
cially if the land be as well prepared for the 
crop, and as well attended, while it will prove 
four-fold more remunerating. Mr. Pardee 
says he has grown at the rate of two hund¬ 
red and fifty bushels per acre, and that 
where good varieties are selected, with mod¬ 
erate cultivation, a hundred and fifty bushels 
can be calculated upon, and moreover, that 
fifty cents a bushel, will meet the expense 
of cultivation. 
But the labor and expense of gathering so 
many tiny berries, and safely conveying such 
delicate freight to market, to the uninitiated 
seems a task almost herculean. If a judi¬ 
cious selection of varieties are made, so that 
only the larger berries are grown, and the 
culture is such as to give you those in per¬ 
fection, the labor of gathering is more than 
half reduced, while the proceeds of the sale 
are more than doubled. And if in addition 
to the size, hardness of the berry be regard¬ 
ed, so as to bear carriage well, no more haz¬ 
ard will be incurred in transporting than a 
thousand other articles of merchandize are 
subjected to. 
To ensure success to the market grower, 
four characteristic qualities should be re¬ 
garded as essential. I name them in the 
order of their importance— size , hardness, 
high color and ■productiveness. The absence 
of either of these will materially affect the 
cash net product. With the amateur grower 
it is all flavor—flavor. The table qualities 
will weigh more in the scale than all others 
combined, while the purchaser in the mar¬ 
ket judges by another standard. With him 
his eye makes the rule—its enormous size, 
its splendid crimson color, at once decide 
the question, and Hovey’s Seedling is borne 
away, while Burr’s new Pine, its less brazen 
faced and more blushing neighbor, of sterling 
merit, is declared unripe, and left for the 
knowing ones to luxuriate upon. 
Touching the profits of strawberry cul¬ 
ture, what do facts teach us « Mr. William 
Stoms of Cincinnati, in the August No. of 
the Horticulturist of last year, says : “ Mr. 
Toucey has raised this season, and vended 
in our city, three hundred and forty bushels 
of strawberries, grown on ten acres of land. 
The gross receipts were two thousand, two 
hundred and ten dollars. The crop was 
marketed (gathered and sold) at an expense 
of three hundred dollars, leaving a nett profit 
of a fraction short of two hundred dollars 
per acre, while the probable cost of cultiva¬ 
tion did not exceed fifteeen dollars per acre. 
The varieties grown were Iowas, called by 
the market men, Washingtons, Hovey's 
Seedling and Hudson's." 
Mr. Barry, speaking of the same market, 
says : “ I found immense supplies, consist¬ 
ing in most part of the Iowas, Hudson, the 
old favorite sort, and Hovey’s. The last 
named sold at 25 cents per quart, the others 
at 15. The Hovey is not a great bearer, in 
the judgment of market men, but a solid 
berry,bearing carriage well and looking fine.” 
The Iowa is a favorite with them from the 
fact that it bears immense crops and matures 
early. The plants never winter out—once 
planted they take care of themselves—fight¬ 
ing their way even among weeds, so com¬ 
pletely covering the ground as to overshad¬ 
ow and pre-ocupy it. The berries are large 
and easily picked, so that at 15 cents per 
quart, it is more profitabe to the grower than 
Hovey’s at 25 cents. We have grown it for 
years, and found it to ripen as soon, if not a 
little earlier than the early Scarlet, and al¬ 
though inferior in flavor, its enormous size 
and great productivenes makes it decidedly 
more desirable for an early market berry. 
Mr. Stoms of Cincinnatti, above referred 
to, says of the Iowa : “ More is cultivated 
of them of any other, because of their early 
ripening and hardy culture. They are also 
a more certain crop than any other variety, 
as a general thing.” 
At Rochester, Burr’s new Pine and Hud- 
son have been the market berries, while in 
New-York the early Scarlet, called by the 
market women Scotch Runner, followed by 
the Crimson Cone, better known as the Pine 
Apple, and Hovey’s Seedling constitute about 
all the varieties that find_[their way into 
market. 
The Philadelphia market is much better 
supplied with choice berries than the New- 
York market. Hovey's Seedling being more 
extensively grown as a market berry, the 
Moyamensing and others of the new varie¬ 
ties, as well as the Iowas and Hudson. With 
our present knowledge of this subject we 
should recommend for extensive culture the 
Early Scarlet and Iowas, or Washingtons, 
the Hovey Seedling and Crimson Cone—and 
in the place of the Hudson, Willey & Jen- 
ney’s Seedling. 
Mr. Wilder says : (see Horticulturist, vol. 
IV, page 132.) “ The Willey, much like the 
Hudson, and the Jenney, are even more pro¬ 
ductive.” He adds, “ Jenney sold, from less 
than three-quarters of an acre, including 
about one-fifth of the Virginia, as fertilizers, 
twenty-seven hundred boxes, of a quart 
size, and picked five hundred more, making 
thirty-two hundred—which, at 25 cents, gave 
him eight hundred dollars, the price at which 
his crop was engaged. 
The following statement we cut from a 
Boston paper : “ As an evidence of the 
profits of the strawberry culture, we will 
state that of the variety known as Jenney’s 
Seedling, the following is the product of half 
an acre : 
2,773 boxes, which were sold in the Boston market 
at wholesale, at 20 cents a box..$554 60 
500 boxes used in the family, at 20 cents,. 100 00 
$654 60 
Here, as the product of an acre of land 
that can be cultivated by one man, we have 
six thousand five hundred and forty-six 
quarts, which, at the average retail price in 
in our market, will yield $1,636 50. This, 
as can readily be seen, is an enormously 
profitable business ; but we do not suppose 
that so large a yield can be relied upon. 
Three thousand quarts an acre, we believe, 
may be always calculated upon by good cul¬ 
tivators, and this yield, at 10 cents a quart, 
will make one of the most lucrative branches 
of culture that a man can attend to.” 
Our own observations for some three years 
past have fully sustained the character here 
given for productiveness and market value. 
The comparative value of the Jenney, as a 
market berry, has led me to place it very 
high in the scale, having found it uniformly 
productive, high flavored, of a brilliant crim¬ 
son color, and uniform size, somewhat above 
medium. McAvoy’s extra Red, Longworth’s 
prolific, Walker’s Seedling, Monroe Scarlet, 
Genesee Seedling, and Moyamensing, among 
the newer varieties, may very soon take the 
place of some of the above named, as mar¬ 
ket berries.- 
The advantage of cultivating a number of 
varieties, and especially such a list as we 
have given, is that the grower has the advan¬ 
tage of the market for a longer period than 
he can otherwise have. With the Iowa and 
Early Scarlet he goes into market when the 
first commands a large price. When they 
begin to decline, the more showy Hovey and 
Crimson Cone take their place. By the 
side of the Hovey appears the Jenney, al¬ 
though not quite as large, more attracting 
by its richer crimsoned surface, of more de- 
