Wilder's superb seedling, which has received his name, is an example
of this blending process. This berry is a child of the La Constante
and Hovey's Seedling, and, therefore, in this one beautiful and most
delicious variety we have united the characteristics of the two chief
strawberry species of the world, the F. Virginiana and F. Chilensis.

It will be seen that the great law of race extends even to strawberry
plants. As in the most refined and cultivated peoples there is a
strain of the old native stock, which ever remains, a source of
weakness or strength, and will surely show itself in certain
emergencies, so the superb new varieties of strawberries, the latest
products of horticultural skill, speedily indicate in the rough-and-
tumble of ordinary culture whether they have derived their life from
the hardy F. Virginiana or the tender and fastidious F. Chilensis. The
Monarch of the West and the Jucunda are the patricians of the garden,
and on the heavy portions of my land at Cornwall I can scarcely say to
which I give the preference. But the Monarch is Anglo-Saxon and the
Jucunda is of a Latin race; or to drop metaphor, the former comes of a
species that can adapt itself to conditions extremely varied, and even
very unfavorable, and the latter cannot.




CHAPTER V

IDEAL STEAWBERRIES VERSUS THOSE OF THE FIELD AND MARKET


There are certain strong, coarse-feeding vegetables, like corn and