322 THE FLORIST. 



STRAWBERRIES— ELEANOR, NIMROD, ADAIR. 



I see in Strawberry catalogues, as well as in the accounts of the 

 British Pomological Society in your August number, some things 

 which I think are incorrect. Nimrod is said to be like Eleanor, and 

 " difficult to be distinguished from it." " Nimrod (Pince), was so like 

 Adair, both in fruit and foliage, that the meeting were unable to dis- 

 tinguish them." Permit me to observe, that, as these Strawberries 

 grow here, they are, in both cases, as unlike as " horses and hens." 

 Eleanor is a very large, flatfish, wedge-coned Strawberry — something 

 like a wedge that you split wood with, a little rounded — with seeds 

 deeply imbedded and far distant : its colour is, when properly ripened, 

 deep red, and its flesh nearly red throughout. Its flavour is sharp, and 

 with a little sugar it is a very good Strawberry, and, to my taste, the 

 noblest that I have yet seen. No garden should be without it. The 

 leaf-stalks, here, appear to be more furry or pubescent at the base than 

 those of Nimrod. The growth also of the plant is more dwarf and 

 bushy, and the leaves, though like those of Nimrod, are more taper, 

 and of less substance than those of Nimrod. Mr. May and Mr. Ingram 

 of Blandford, who have grown both Strawberries for some years, laugh 

 at the assertion that Nimrod is ITeanor. I see, moreover, that my 

 Eleanor and Nimrod, coming from a totally different locality, agree 

 with theirs, both as to plant and fruit. Mr. Gill, nurseryman, of 

 Blandford, gave me my Nimrod, unsolicited ; and Mr. Tiley gave me 

 Eleanor, Lecoq, Vilmorin, and Adair, unsolicited. 



Let me now proceed to describe Nimrod, as it is here. Nimrod is 

 Queen-flavoured and sweet, roundish, long-coned, and of a pale orange 

 red. It is a very excellent Strawberry, and more like Carolina 

 superba, as they grew under last summer's sun under the same hot 

 wall, than any other, the leaves of the two being very different, and 

 Nimrod being much hardier. I sent some fine plants of it to Mr. 

 Nicholson, with the earth on; and Mr. F. Gloede has also taken some 

 similar ones, fine uncropped plants, to France with him, as well as other 

 Strawberries, one of which you may hear of another day. I must 

 here say, that I do not dispute the correctness of the decision of the 

 Botanic or Pomological Society, as to the fruits and plants presented 

 to them under the names of Nimrod and Adair, but I mean to 

 assert that Nimrod is a totally distinct Strawberry from Eleanor and 

 Adair. 



Now let us come to Adair. Adair is as unlike Nimrod, in foliage 

 and fruit, as a " pump is unlike a wheelbarrow." Adair is a roundish 

 heart-shaped Strawberry, with long stems and vigorous leaves, some- 

 what cupped ; but the leaves of Nimrod are perfectly flat. There is 

 no Queen flavour in Adair, nor any peculiar flavour. I parted with it, 

 though a heavy cropping, excellent second-class Strawberry, because I 

 prefer Trollope's Victoria, hardly so firm, but good in every other 

 respect. With regard to the colour of Adair ; a little shaded on south 

 side by a tree, it was pale reddish blush, and not " dark red." Soil, 

 situation, and different suns greatly alter the colour and also the flavour 



