goblet as soon as he publishes a letter from Dr. Warder, achnotdedijing the corn. 

 I will remain quiet as soon as he gets Mr. Buist and Dr. Briuckle (his neighbors) 

 to concur in his opinion. This he should be able to do, as he says " both Eastern 

 cultivators and Cincinnati are of the same mind, after all." I have never heard 

 of such an opinion from any Eastern cultivator but Mr. Downing. He published 

 such a change in his bed of Ilovey's Seedling. Unfortunately, his statement led 

 persons to visit his garden, and they found some "bull had jumped into the pen." 

 Unfortunately, neither ^Ir. Downing nor Dr. Warder noticed the stems and leaves 

 enough to distinguish the difference. The stem and leaf of the Prolific will dis- 

 tinguish it from the Ilovey's Seedling and McAvoy's Superior, at a distance. 



Yours, truly, N. Longworth. 



Dear Sir : In my paper referred to by Mr. Longworth, there is no such sen- 

 tence as he appears to quote as my words. Dr. Warder's name I only used inci- 

 dentally. Mr. L. has evidently been quoting from memory, and his memory has 

 deceived him. Mr. L. will see that it was Dr. Ward that I had reference to, or, 

 rather, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, which seems to have adopted the 

 doctor's views. I quoted exactly the doctor's words, which (unless we adopt 

 Talleyrand's definition of language as " a power given to man to enable him to 

 conceal his thoughts") acknowledges "the corn" quite sufficiently, in my poor 

 opinion, to give me a claim, without further support, to that silver goblet. 



It will surprise many who have been accustomed to hear " that any change in 

 the sexual characters of the strawberry is utterly impossible," now to learn, from 

 Mr. Longworth himself, that all hermaphrodites are uncertain except the Prolific, 

 sometimes becoming nearly all pistillate, in other seasons nearly all staminate. 

 Would Mr. L. favor us with some physiological reason why the Prolific should be 

 exempt from the same laws that govern the changes in the others ? That it is 

 more constant in the locality which gave it birth than others introduced from 

 other places, is no proof that it would maintain that character with the circum- 

 sta^nces reversed. 



Now that hermaphrodites are excluded from the " unchangeable," we have the 

 question much simplified. As Mr. L. names Ilovey's Seedling, we are left to 

 infer that the pistillates alone are the patterns of immutability ; but why the Iowa 

 should be permitted to possess the power to suppress or develop its pistils at will, 

 and the Hoveys be denied that privilege in the use of its stamens, I am at a loss 

 to understand. 



Mr. L. has never heard of any other Eastern cultivators but "Mr. Downinsi: 

 and Mr. Meehan," kc. Very fortunate, indeed, are these other gentlemen, if 

 they are wise enough to profit by my example, they will remain in the same en- 

 viable state of obscurity. Whatever some of our friends may believe, I do not 

 know. I have not asked or sought the opinions of any one. I have stated facts 

 simply as I observed them. Messrs. A, 15, C, or D, may have had reason sufficient 

 to agree either with me or Mr. L., as the case may be. I should be sorry to follow 

 Mr. Longworth's example, and offer to shape my course by the convictions of any 

 third parties. With all due respect for the experience of Mr. L., or any other 

 person, 1 must say that I have had opportunities of observing the strawberry 

 under a much greater variety of circumstances than oNlr. L. ever had, or some 

 others whose judgment Mr. L. prefers to my own. If it should happen'that they 

 differ from me, it would not therefore l)e so very sur|irising. 



In my opposition to Mr. Longworth's unchangeal)]e views, I have been actuated 

 from the first by the desire to benefit others. I had no purpose of my o 

 serve. I was not then a nurseryman ; had not been caught in such an 



