A rust similar to that which attacks the black-cap is almost the
only disease we have to contend with. The remedy is the same--
extirpation of the plant, root and branch.
After testing a great many kinds, I recommend the three following
varieties, ripening in succession for the family--the Early
Harvest, Snyder, and Kittatinny. These all produce rich, high-
flavored berries, and, under the treatment suggested, will prove
hardy in nearly all localities. This fruit is not ripe as soon as
it is black, and it is rarely left on the bushes until the hard
core in the centre is mellowed by complete maturity. I have found
that berries picked in the evening and stood in a cool place were
in excellent condition for breakfast. To have them in perfection,
however, they must be so ripe as to drop into the basket at the
slightest touch; then, as Donald Mitchell says, they are "bloated
bubbles of forest honey."
I fancy the reader is as impatient to reach the strawberry as I am
myself. "Doubtless God could have made a better berry"--but I
forbear. This saying has been quoted by the greater part of the
human race, and attributed to nearly every prominent man, from
Adam to Mr. Beecher. There are said to be unfortunates whom the
strawberry poisons. The majority of us feel as if we could attain
Methuselah's age if we had nothing worse to contend with.
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