Few persons have given more attention to the careful production of the new varieties of strawberries than Col. Wilder, and the results of his extensive experience must be of great value to beginners in this pleasant pursuit. In a recent essay before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, he thus details his views and experiences:

"The strawberry has assumed great importance among our cultivated plants, and great progress has been made in the production of new and fine kinds, but there is still room for improvement. We know no reason why we may not produce varieties of strawberries of the finest quality and such as are adapted to every section of our vast territory. To produce them we should select as breeders those which possess the characteristics which we wish to obtain. To make sure of a perfect cross, the essayist has chosen pistillate kinds and impregnated them with those of the greatest excellences, for example, the Crescent - which, though of second quality, possesses extraordinary hardiness and productiveness, with good form and color - which he has crossed with the President Wilder, Duncan, Triple Crown and other high-flavored sorts. From these crosses he has obtained some very promising kinds. The time is fast approaching when the public will not be satisfied with so poor a strawberry as the Wilson, and if we can produce a bet ter one the Wilson will disappear from our mar kets.

If we can produce a variety of the quality and productiveness of the Hovey in former years, and better suited to general cultivation, should we not do it? What is wanted is varieties of excellence that everybody can grow."