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Excerpt from American Agriculturalist, Vol.
XXXVIII, No. 9, September 1879.
A Talk About Strawberries
"Hudson's Bay," "Crimson Cone,"
"Keene's Seedling," "Methven Scarlet,"
"Baltimore Scarlet," and a few others
were the varieties with which our strawberry experience
began. It would be difficult to find either of
these now. Then came "Hovey's Seedling"-
and what an improvement it was upon all others!
We had strawberries then with a strawberry flavor,
and whoever had the "Hovey" knew what
a strawberry should be.
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We
do not often see or hear of this variety now,
but where is its equal? Does the present generation,
except those who now and then get a taste
of a wild strawberry, know how a strawberry
ought to taste? Isn't it about time to give
up the musk-flavored berries of the "Triomphe
de Gand" order, or the great, coarse,
sour things with no special flavor whatever
(we could name a dozen to which this description
applies), and try to raise strawberries, not
for size, but for quality?
As we look back upon the past thirty years
of strawberry culture, we can see no improvement
in the direction of quality. Now and then
a variety has appeared, like "Brooklyn
Scarlet," "Boston Pine," or
"Burr's New Pine," of superior excellence
as to flavor, but lack of productiveness,
lack of size, or lack of something, has caused
them to be dropped from cultivation.
Whoever will give us a fruit equal in all
respects to Hovey's Seedling, without its
faults, will be a benefactor to his race -
at least that portion of it who remember how
strawberries should taste.
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Fig. 1. -- The Glendale Strawberry.
Fig. 2 -- The Golden Defiance Strawberry. |
Excerpt from American Agriculturalist, Vol. XXXVIII,
No. 9 , September 1879.
Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of an article
published in 1879. It describes what was recommended
in accordance with the knowledge and practices of
the day. While reading it, please consider this
fact. |
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