"Which is the best strawberry?" This is a question every fruit grower is asked a thousand times, and it is a question that is as difficult to answer as it would be difficult to answer which is the best potato, the best breed of horses or the best breed of cows. It depends entirely upon what you want to use them for. If you understand, by the best strawberry, the variety that is best suited to the greatest variety of soil or the largest area of country, or best for market purposes, that will do best in all climes and in all soils, I say there is no such strawberry. It can never be attained. We can never reach perfection, neither in strawberries nor anything else; but when I am asked which variety comes nearest to this, I say unhesitatingly the Wilson. If we divide this question and say which is the best variety for market purposes, and which is the best for the amateur, then I say, positively, the Wilson, for market. The Wilson succeeds best under the largest extent of soil in different climates, and is hard enough for market, though it lacks quality. It is sour, but this makes very little difference in market. In the New York market strawberries are not bought for their flavor, but for their looks.

If the berry is hard and large enough it will sell in market as a first-rate market berry, and as such the Wilson certainly comes into the very first place. When I am asked which is the best variety for general purposes, for home use or a near market, I say the Charles Downing. It comes nearly up to the Wilson as a market berry, and it may in time equal it. The quality is decidedly better than that of the Wilson. All that it is inferior to the Wilson in, is the productiveness; but in size and in firmness it is up to the Wilson. It is large, fine, and in appearance a much better quality than the Wilson. When a single variety is wanted, I say take the Charles Downing. This variety grows well under any variety of cultivation. It grows well in hills and in beds. Very few varieties do this, and therefore this is very valuable.

But One variety to grow is not enough, for it gives you a very short season. One variety is not more than from ten to twelve days; when, by having a selection of varieties, we can extend the season to two or three weeks. One should, if he values strawberries for his own use, plant not less than three varieties. Then, again, we have to make a division as to the soils. When three varieties of strawberry are wanted for market, to be grown on a light sandy soil, for early fruit, the Downer; for medium, the Wilson; for late, the Green Prolific. None of these varieties are strictly first class in quality and for market. They are good, and for a near market the very best that can be raised. For the main crop the Wilson, as I said before, will give the largest yield. It is not a prime quality for holding out a long time, but it gives a good medium sized berry and a very showy berry. The Green Prolific is poorer when grown from clay lands, but when it does succeed it is a very valuable variety.

The three best varieties for clay lands are (1) the Nicanor, which, under" equal circumstances, succeeds better on clay lands than anywhere else. The berries are of medium size, but the quality is decidedly better than the Downer; yet they do not hold out long. Three or four pickings finish all the large berries ; but as they come in so rapidly, they form a valuable variety. For late varieties on clays I would take the Triomphe de Gand and the Jucunda. For the northern States, these two varieties are the principal market varieties; and I differ slightly from my friend Lyman when he says there is no profit in extending the length of the season. Next week is the time for strawberries in New York. You can get, next week, double the price that you could get for the last four or five weeks. The season this year is peculiar, and different from all seasons that I have seen. That is, the strawberry season is exceedingly short. The season at our farm has not been longer than two weeks, when ordinarily it is three and three and a half weeks. So I will have to make an allowance for this. The Triomphe de Grand is the very best market variety. It is the handsomest, and much harder than any other variety.

The Jucunda is its rival; not quite as hard, but somewhat larger, of better shape, and of the very finest appearance. There is one peculiarity about them. In some seasons the Jucunda will do better than the Triomphe. They are very similar in their characteristics. They ripen about the same time. The Agriculturist is a market variety that has been considered a first-class variety, but I am confident that it will soon run out, for it has not held its own. It was harder and better at first than it is now. The quality was never very good, but it seems to grow softer.

This is the list of principal market varieties. There are several other varieties, but it is not well to raise many varieties for market - it is better to confine yourself to one or two varieties. Then the grower can get a reputation for a certain variety. They will command a much better price. Some of these varieties are also very good for the amateur, that is, for one's own use; and the main distinction between a market variety and an amateur variety is simply the firmness. If our large berries of good quality were hard they would be market varieties, but, unfortunately, many of our very best strawberries are not hard. In the amateur list I would place for early the Brooklyn Scarlet as the very best early variety. It is not very prolific, and not hard enough for market; but in quality it is not exceeded by any other variety. It comes in with the very earliest berries we have. For a medium crop I will take the same varieties we mentioned in the market varieties, because we have none better than those; but for late we have some varieties of exceedingly good quality, which are too soft to be shipped. One of the very best varieties is the Napoleon Third. It is hardly surpassed by any other variety.

It lacks high flavor; but, nevertheless, it is so juicy and luscious that I put it in the very first rank of amateur berries. It continues much longer than the Triomphe and the Jucunda, and bears very large crops, and ail the berries are of a large, uniform size. If it was as hard as the Triomphe I would put it first in the list of strawberries. The very best flavored strawberry that I know of, is the Lennigs White. It has the flavor of a pineapple. It is not very prolific, but it is indispensable in the collection of any lover of strawberries. It keeps its flavor better than any other variety.

A late variety is the Kentucky. It is hardy, very prolific, and may, if it holds its own, become a valuable variety; but it takes many years to decide about the value of any one variety.

A variety that is too much neglected in the amateur's garden is the Alpine. They are small, to be sure, but the quality is very good. They have the real strawberry flavor, and as they are picked without hulls great trouble is saved. In my judgment they are as good a variety as we have.

It was said this evening, one should be afraid to speak of strawberries, the subject is so. old; but it is no hackneyed subject to say the sun rises, although one may see it rise every day, and it is no hackneyed subject when one sees the bads in the spring time. It should be taken into consideration that we must strive for improve-ment, not only from year to year, but from time to time. If we come hear and learn something new about strawberries, we have gained something. It is little by little that we increase our knowledge; so to come together and talk about strawberries is not, after all, so very unimportant and trivial a subject. [Applause].