From F. H. Hale, So. Glastonbury, Conn

"My first venture in strawberry culture was more than twenty-five years ago with Wilson's Albany, Hovey Seedling, and two or three others, and ever since that time I have been growing the Wilson, and have tested every other variety that has been offered for sale, besides many seedlings of my own and a great number of others sent here for trial. We have berries more nearly perfect in plant growth, more productive varieties, (See page 521.) larger berries, better colored berries, berries that suit the masses better to eat, yet none quite equal to the Wilson in shipping and keeping qualities. For fifteen or twenty years past I have been fruiting from 10 to 25 acres of strawberries annually, and each year tested from 50 to 150 varieties, and thus far I have failed to find a berry that combines so many good qualities as did the Wilson in its best days - vigorous, hardy plant, strong staminate bloom, early ripening, great productions, good size and form of fruit, great firmness, rich, dark color and good quality. (On this latter point I know many will be inclined to differ with me; yet I know of no berry now growing that has such a rich sprightly flavor as a fully ripened Wilson).

"Within the past three years I have visited during the strawberry season twenty states of the Union, and have been on the farms of some of the most successful cultivators of the strawberry in each state, and in not a single instance have I found the Wilson coming up to its old standard, or proving as reliable or as profitable as some other varieties. J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin, and Dr. McKay, of Mississippi, are the only parties in the United States that I know of who are able to make much of a success with it of late years, and still from all over the country we have a heavy demand for the plants each year, and other growers of small fruit plants tell me that they sell many Wilson plants annually ; yet the show of fruit in many of our leading markets for the past five years does not indicate that these plants ever produce much marketable fruit.

" I recently addressed a letter to a hundred or more of our customers in different parts of the country who had bought Wilson plants of us during the past year or two asking why they had planted this variety. Over 70 per cent, replied in substance that they had better and more profitable varieties, and 'only used the Wilson because it bloomed so early and so furnished pollen to fertilize the blossoms of their early imperfect flowering varieties.' A few wanted to 'give it one more trial and see if it would not do as it did years ago;' others had 'heard of its value and wanted to test it;' one or two 'liked it to eat better than any other," and two planted it because they ' had a demand for the fruit for canning purposes.' All agreed that they were growing more profitable varieties, and mentioned Bubach, Haverland, Crescent, Windsor and Warfield as better sorts, about in the order named.

" Some eight or ten years ago I conceived the idea that the deterioration of the Wilson was caused largely by careless methods of propagation - the taking of plants from old beds, etc. - and concluded that if I could once obtain an improved or well selected strain of plants I could by selection in a few years breed up to the old-time vigor and productiveness. From near Albany, N. Y., I finally obtained a stock that had been carefully propagated for years. From this stock I have each year selected the best for planting stock, and believe that I have to-day the best strain of Wilsons in the United States. The plants are strong and lusty in growth, very seldom showing any signs of rust or leaf blight. The bloom is perfect, and the fruit sets well, yet does not come up to the old time standard, either in size or color. I have become thoroughly satisfied that it has ' had its day,' and that it is worse than useless to attempt to revive it, except through its seedlings, or better still, through the seedlings of such vigorous pistillate varieties as the Haverland, Bubach or Crescent, that have been fertilized with it.

The offspring of such crosses should in some degree show some of the old time characteristics of this once valuable variety, unless it is so far gone now as to be unable to transmit any of its value to its offspring".

From F. S. Earle, Cobden, Illinois

"We discontinued planting the Wilson strawberry on our Southern Illinois fruit farm some ten years ago, as it ceased to be profitable, and at this time very few fields of it can be found in this region. We usually grew it in narrow matted rows. It did no better, perhaps hardly so well, under hill culture. I have always considered it an open question whether the Wilson was really ' running out,' that is, becoming constitutionally weaker, or whether its failure was not rather to be attributed to the greatly increased ravages of insects and fungi. In our experience, it was found particularly subject to injury from the tarnished plant bug, the various root worms and the leaf blight and rust (Ramularia Tulasnei, Sacc.), and we were forced to discard it for more vigorous or better resisting varieties. It seems probable that its wide spread failure is to be attributed in part to each of these causes".

From T. V. Munson, Denison, Texas

"Some ten or twelve years ago, E. Perry, one of the foremost fruitgrowers of this region at that time, and several other persons, grew the Wilson strawberry quite extensively on a deep sandy soil, having a moist substratum of clay. The variety did well with them then in comparison with Downing and some others, except when a season of drouth came, and then the berries would not develop to large size, nor ripen well. The plants made excellent stools and set fruit heavily. They were grown in matted rows. In a few years the Capt. Jack and Crescent proved so much more certain bearers, and more prolific on these grounds, as well as on others of similar character, that now they have entirely superseded the Wilson.

"On my own place (at that time a rich, dark limestone soil), the Wilson made immense stools and bloomed profusely, setting many berries, some perfect and some 'buttons,'but invariably failed to mature well, making a very indifferent crop in matted rows and hills ; while Capt. Jack and Crescent, planted alternately in matted rows, have been our leading market varieties for some fourteen years in both sandy and clay lands, and are yet doing well, though the Parker Earle now bids fair to supersede them, being perfect in flower, and finer than either Crescent or Capt. Jack in berry and plant, as well as more productive. I have tried nearly all kinds. I cannot say that the Wilson is * running out,' but surely it has been run out of cultivation here by more profitable varieties. Probably it comes nearer the mark to say that more profitable varieties (owing to greater productivenes) have superseded the Wilson, though the latter may be as good as ever, and is, so far as my knowledge goes. I do not believe in the theory of 'running out,' in varieties which propagate themselves naturally, as do strawberries".

Remarks By The Editor

The above replies indicate that the Wilson is going out of general cultivation. The reasons for this disfavor fall into two categories : depreciation of the merits of the variety, and failure in the variety itself. " Competition with improved varieties, low prices which necessitate the growing of large berries, the efforts of plant dealers to magnify its faults in order to show the virtues of their pets," as Mr. Green pungently writes, are prime causes in the growing disfavor. Our standard of strawberry ideals is growing away from the old Wilson, and we predict that when another quarter century shall have come it will live only in history, as does the Hovey to-day.

But is the Wilson running out ? This is what everyone wants to know. Our own experience, and the testimony of growers in general, indicate that the berry is not so good as it was in its younger days. We presume that even Mr. Smith will agree with us that this is the general truth regarding the Wilson. It is only an occasional grower who puts energy enough into the variety to make it hold up its head among its fellows. In short, the Wilson is gradually failing, running out, and the experiences of those who still maintain its virtues by dint of forceful culture are the clearest proofs of the fact. In ordinary treatment it is no longer profitable, and it is to be expected that failure will be longest delayed where conditions are the most perfect.

But we suspect that under these intensive cultures and close selections the old Wilson is disappearing and a new Wilson is coming in. In fact, Mr. Smith says that even now he considers his "stock stronger and better in every way than when we obtained it in 1861." It is the inevitable tendency of such practice to breed a superior strain, a new variety. This reminds us of a statement which we recently made that the Trophy tomato is running out; whereupon one objected to the statement with the observation that a certain gardener had grown only the Trophy since its introduction in 1868, under high culture, and so far from deteriorating, it had actually improved - thus furnishing undeniable proof of the truth of our proposition."]

Taste is pursued at a less expense than fushion. - Shenstone.