XDITOn'S TABLE. 



Jlovnj Srettthipf, nnd also sonio yet preon, niid oflicrs in blossom. The berries were fiiir size — 

 not lurt:«', nil J of cotirso not very high fliivoiutl. 1 never oxiuninetl my Strawberry beds at this 

 season of tlio year before, nnd of course am unable to say whether they have before jiroduced n 

 second crop. / (riscovercj neither jfowera nor fruit on an;/ other kind. I use the lAirge Hurhj 

 Scarlet for fertilizers. The berries were upon the old vinos whicli hud borne before this season. 

 R. B. "Waurex. — Alabama, N. Y. 



Strawberries, in common with nuist utlier fruit.';, do occa.sionally blossom a second tinu', 

 and produce a second crop. Pear blossoms were quite nmiicrous last Sei)tember. Your 

 Ilovei/s Seedling., producing fruit at a season when it was impossible for the berries to bo 

 fertilized with the pollen of others, goes to prove that fruits may be produced on pistillate 

 plants without the aid of foreign pollen. 



Mil. M.^THEws AND THE CfRCULio. — The Ilon. J.VMES Matuews is decidedly one of the most 

 energetic and untiring horticulturists in the "West. At a coinjiaratively early age he h.id the good 

 fortune to be elected to Congress. For this honorable station he had nothing to press him forward 

 but his industry, integrity, and abilit}-. In Congress he was little celebrated for m\ich talkiixj, 

 but gave high satisfaction to his constituents by the general correctness of liis votes. He servi-d 

 four j-ears. Ills position in Congress gave liira ready access to the acquaintaince of the principal 

 horticulturists of the United States and Europe. The good opportunity which his position gave 

 him he most zealously improved, and expended hisjocr diem with a liberality which, had he boi-n 

 a millionaire, instead of a penniless boy, would hardly have been expected of him. He imported 

 trees from all parts of the world with a most liberal hand. Nor has he been less lavish of his 

 time. Before he went to Congress, he did whatever his time and means permitted. When in 

 Congress, those leisure hours which many would have devoted to amusement or useless politics, 

 he employed in his extensive horticultural correspondence, and in reading those valuable works 

 which his additional means had enabled him to purchase. Since the expiration of his congres- 

 sional service, some seven years, Mr. Mathews has devoted at least half his time to horticulture — 

 chiefly experimental, and with very little cosh value to himself. lie informs me he has remained 

 hour upon hour under his Plum trees watching the doings and habits of the Curculio. He says 

 the notion they can not fly is false; he has seen them rise perpendicular from the ground. In 

 his opinion nothing but deatd can save the Plums. He has tried almost every variety of medica- 

 tion — lime, sulphur, spirits of terpentine. I can not remember half, but his conclusion is that 

 none of these are of any avail. He says, careful shaking or jarring them down on sheets and 

 killing them is effectual ; he has tried it. He also believes feeding a sufficient number of hogs 

 under the Plum trees would answer. The tread of the swine and their destruction of the fruit 

 would KitL the most of the Curculios. Ilis own remedy is to the death, and needs only one 

 application per annum, and will not cost over three cents per tree beyond what is required by 

 ordinary good cultivation. 



Tliese are the facts, as I understand them. Mr. M. lives at Coshocton, our seat of justice, 

 twenty-two miles distant, and I generally see him and his garden two or three times a year. 

 During the past Plum season I called on him on other business, and found his Plums perfectly 

 smooth and sound. A few days since I saw him at our County Court. Having noticed the 

 remarks in the Horticulturist and in the Country Gentleman, I spoke of it to him. He says he 

 wants no compensation without value to the public. Let a sum be subscribed by amateurs and 

 horticultural societies large enough to induce the most active and skillful competition, and let 

 that remedy' take the purse which shall, after a fair trial of three years, prove best. It seems to 

 me this would be just. Those who labor for the public good should not labor in vain, and 

 especially when they work successfully. What amateur would begrudge a few dollars for a 

 reliable remedy for the Curculio ? I hope a subscription will be started, open to free competit 



