2()G THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [ September, 



THE STRAWBERKY SEASON IN 1873. 

 ^EVER in my experience has a more plentiful crop of Strawberries been 

 gathered here than that of this year. The season commenced with the 

 Black Prince, followed by the Old Scarlet^ an excellent small variety for 

 preser\-ing. The President bore the heaviest crop of any, the beds being 

 paved with its large fruit ; but this variety has the fault of the fruit rotting, if 

 not raised from the ground on wires or sticks. Sir Joseph Paxton and Eclipse like- 

 wise showed very heavy crops, as did also Sir Charles Napier. Lucas, a Belgian 

 variety, was one of the very best as regards size and flavour, and it carries well. 

 The Duke of Lancaster., a new Lancashire seedling, I have grown for the first time 

 this yeai", and it proves to be a good sort, both for flavour and size. That fine old 

 kind La Consiante I never had finer ; so also Jngrams Prince of Wales., 

 with its peculiarly rich flavour. Marguerite I have discarded, for although the 

 fruit is large and fine, they are very soft and pulpy, and have but little flavour. 



On the strong brick-earth soil of the kitchen garden here, the British Queen 

 and the AFr. Radcliffe., two varieties nearly alike, always grow and bear well ; 

 and this year they have produced enormous crops. Dr. Hogg., another sort which 

 seems to do best in a strong soil, had very large fruit, many of them turning the 

 scale at two ounces. The smaller-sized fruits of this kind — those that ripened the 

 latest, were the sweetest and most delicious in flavour of all the strawberries I have 

 ever tasted. The two latest varieties, now just over, are Cockscomb and Progmore 

 Late Pine. The latter sort has always been a shy grower with me, but its fruit 

 is of fine flavour, and comes in about the latest. Cockscomb has been of great 

 size this year, with some of its fruit ; and it likewise has the property of the 

 smaller fruit, being the best flavoured, and keeping up a succession till very late. 

 — William Tillery, Welbeck. 



DELPHINIUMS IN POTS. 



'EVERAL attempts have been made — for instance, at the provincial 

 exhibitions of the Royal Horticultural Society — to encourage the cultiva- 



ftion of the Delphininin in pots, but somehow or other, the results have 

 not been particularly encouraging ; and yet this fine perennial can be 

 most effectively grown in this way, as witness some capital examples occasionally 

 shown by Mr. R. Parker, Tooting, and Mr. T. S. Ware, Tottenham. For its 

 successful management indeed some care is required. 



The Delphiniums form a very handsome group of plants, all of which are 

 quite hardy, and of an exceedingly free habit, requiring but little attention in 

 their cultivation, so long as they have room in the open border in which to 

 develop themselves, and good rich soil for their roots. In the case of pot 

 cultivation, a certain amount of restriction is put on the free development the 

 plants make in the open ground ; hence the care and attention which are 

 absolutely necessary to success. 



