1879.] THE STRAWBERRY CROP OF 1879. 523 



DELL'S HYBRID MELON. 



Fkom what we learned of this Melon before it was sent out, a very- 

 high opinion was formed of it. We have this year grown a span-roofed 

 Melon-house, 80 feet long, full of it, excepting a few lights devoted to 

 Cucumbers, and in every way our expectations of it have been fully real- 

 ised. For the last eleven years the same house has been devoted to vari- 

 ous Melons of excellent reputations. But notwithstanding the most 

 unfavourable season, perhaps, ever experienced by any gardener now in 

 practice, we have never taken so many really good Melons out of the 

 house. It is evidently a variety with a robust and fruitful constitu- 

 tion, for it set freely in spite of constant rain and almost entire absence 

 of sunshine. Judging from its flavour, under most unfavourable con- 

 ditions for developing that important quality in Melons, it must in 

 ordinary seasons be of exquisite flavour. This is, indeed — to say 

 nothing more — highly probable from the fact that, among numerous 

 Melons that were submitted to the London R. H. S. Fruit-committee, 

 Dell's Hybrid was the only one to which a first-class certificate was 

 awarded the year before it was sent out. At all events, we do not 

 intend to grow any other Melon than this green-fleshed one. 



NOTES ON THE STRAWBERRY CROP OF 1879. 



The Strawberry is such a universal favourite among all classes of the 

 community, that anything bearing upon its culture will always receive 

 a certain amount of attention. The present season has proved itself 

 one of the most disastrous on record for almost every kind of crop, and 

 has been particularly so in the case of the Strawberry crop. The plants 

 flowered most profusely, and the early prospects of a good return never 

 were better. But alas ! from the time they began to bloom, the rain 

 came down with unpitying severity, and continued daily, almost with- 

 out intermission, so that only a small proportion of the earlier kinds 

 set their fruit, and even many of those that did swell rotted off in a 

 green state, through being continuously soaked with rain. Altogether 

 there was not half a crop, and in many places not even that. One 

 market grower of our acquaintance informs us that he estimates his 

 loss on this crop alone at £200. Some of the latest kinds gave pretty 

 fair returns, notably so with us in the case of Dr Livingstone and Elton 

 Pine. A few notes on the kinds grown here may be of some little in- 

 terest to a portion of your readers. The soil here is moderately heavy, 

 and our elevation is about 300 feet above sea-level. 



The old standard variety, Keen's Seedling, in ordinary seasons suc- 

 ceeds well here, crops largely, and swells to a good size ; this season, 

 being among the earlier flowering kinds, it produced little or nothing, 

 and that of small size. President does not do well on some soils, and 



