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DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



vStrawberhies and Wine — Dear Sir: I dis- 

 cover, b}' the Horticulturist of the present month, 

 that its editor has a^ain caujiht Longworth nap- 

 ping. If it be true, I trust he will receive no mercy ; 

 for, to my knowledge, he has cultivated the old 

 Hudson for near 40 years, and given it special at- 

 tention ; and it is still more cultivated in this great 

 strawberry market than all other varieties united. 

 But I would advise the editor to be cautious, and 

 not exult too soon. " You no catch-e, you no 

 hab-e," as the Congo says. But people in the back 

 woods are not expected to be as learned as they 

 are in the eastern states ; and yet, I discover thai 

 a horticulturist, of Boston, advertises three new 

 seedlings for sale, of superior excellence, in Ho- 

 vey's Magazine ; yet, does not himself know whe- 

 ther they be staminate or pistillate. Surely, then, 

 Longworth, if his eyesight be not good, may be 

 excused, if he failed to notice the long neck, of 

 the old Hudson. But there is one other fact stated, 

 that leads me to advise the editor of the Horticul- 

 turist not to be too positive ; for it is stated, as an 

 objection against the eastern Hudson, that the ex- 

 treme point of the fruit often remains green, after 

 the other part of the berry is fully ripe. This is 

 never the case with our Hudson. 



I fear the fact, that the Hudsons, got of Mr. 

 Ernst, had a neck, may be explained away, unless 

 Mr. Editor is correct in saying, that pistillates be- 

 come staminate by running. I had a bed of the 

 Necked Pine, (a variety that has been cultivated 

 here about 20 years,) become nearly all staminate, 

 and with the peculiar leaf of this variety, and bore 

 not even a dei'ective berry. I took it for granted it 

 was a seedling that came up in the bed, and having 

 no children to nourish, had, in a single season, ob- 

 tained possession of half the bed. In the Garden 

 of Eden, two of my tenants, McAvry &, Schneike, 

 have raised thousands of seedlings from the Hovey 

 and Pistillate Keen, and also from Taylor's Seed- 

 ling, impregnated by Swainstone Seedling, and all 

 bear a stronsj resemblance to the mother, both in 

 the fruit and plant ; and I doubt not such would be 

 the case, with a chance seedling in the bed of Mr. 

 Ernst. [Our correspondent will observe, in ano- 

 ther column, that Mr. Ern -t says the Hudson oc- 

 casionally grows with a neck. Ed.] Out of the 

 thousands of seedlings raised by the two persons 

 named, there are three only which they deem wor- 

 thy of cultivation ; one is pistillate, the other two 

 staminate, and all promise to surpass the Hovey in 

 size, which they will find no easy task. The stami- 

 natcs, this season, (their first bearing,) produced 

 a full crop ; but it is no evidence that they will con- 

 tinue to do it. A gentleman from Boston, who 

 saw the fruit of one of the staminates, gave Mr. 

 Schneike $6 for a dozen plants. It strikes me as 

 singular, that the great horticulturists of Boston 

 pay so little attention to the strawberry. In their 

 zeal for other fruits, they put all other rcpions to 

 the blush. Why not, from their 1200 varieties of 

 the pear, throw away the 1080 worthless ones, and 

 substitute new strawberries in their place ? Mr. 

 Hovey stated, some two years since, that they had 

 but three varieties worthy of cultivation. He re- 

 peats it in his last number. The three kinds are, 

 the Early Scarlet, Hovey's Boston Pine, and his 



Seedling. The Scarlet we do not cultivate, as we 

 deem its only value is as an impregnator, and we 

 have other staminates that bear a better crop. The 

 Boston Pine we have proved to be a poor bearer. 

 The only one of the three which, in this vicinity, is 

 deemed worthy of cultivation, is the Hovey ; and 

 this is chiefly valued for its extra size. In this re- 

 gion, a few of the berries are larger than any other 

 varieties. The average size, not as large as some 

 others, and its quality not as good. Strawberries 

 that require more sugar are preferred in our city. 

 From what I learn Irom all our horticulturists in 

 this state and Kentucky, it does not prove a great 

 bearer, and the plants die out the second year, and 

 are less vigorous and hardy than the kinds we cul- 

 tivate extensively. It is not deemed valuable to 

 cultivate, as a market fruit. I discover, from a 

 letter in the Horticulturist of this month, from 

 Poughkeepsie, that in your state it is a less valua- 

 ble fruit than it is with us. He describes it, as 

 " far behind all others." I cannot concur in this 

 opinion. The great size of some of its berries 

 makes it a plant of great interest. The Prolific 

 Bee-liive Strawberry, (a single plant of which bears 

 from 200 to 400 fruit,) I venture to predict will 

 prove a humbug. The size of the fruit must al- 

 ways, to a certain extent, depend on the quantity 

 which the plant bears. I had a Kentucky pistil- 

 late seedling, taken from the woods, a single plant 

 of which, without careful cultivation, had on it, at the 

 same time, 200 ripe fruit ; and I sent it to our hor- 

 ticultural society. The fruit was very small. The 

 plants that had 50 on, the fruit was of nearly double 

 the size. Mr. Jackson sent to the horticultural so- 

 ciety a Duke of Kent, with 250 fruit on it. I do 

 not believe any plant can bear an equal quantity, 

 and have large fruit. Yet, the Duke of Kent is 

 only valuable as an impregnator, and for its early 

 ripening. Quere, will a small fruited staminate 

 produce as large fruit, on a pistillate, as a large 

 fruited staminate ? All the good bearing stami- 

 nates, that I have seen, bear some flowers purely 

 pistillate ; and thereby, bear a better crop, and 

 some larger fruit in consequence. A large fruited 

 staminate may be raised of this character, and be 

 very valuable. The Eberlin Seedling has both pis- 

 tillate and staminate blossoms, and is one of our 

 best staminates, as Mr. Huntsman justly remarks. 

 Who is right, in relation to the famous staminate 

 Keene ? Mr. Hovey says '' it was a fine bearer, 

 but not hardy." With us, it would not average 

 one-tenth of a crop. 



What think you of the opinion of the Buffalo con- 

 vention, in relation to the quality of the Washington 

 pear ? We consider two kinds, only, its equal : the 

 While Beurre, and the Seckel. 



My vine dresser expected to make 25,000 gal- 

 lons of wine. But the rot came, and they now cal- 

 culate on 8 or 9,000 gallons only. Some vineyards 

 lost none ; and the culture has increased so much 

 that we shall ha\e double the j'ield of any former 

 year ; and the harvest is much richer than in any 

 former year, and must make wine of superior ex- 

 cellence. My spari<ling Catawba, manufactured 

 last year, made 9000 bottles. I expect, next sea- 

 son, to double the quantity ; and fearful my health 

 might not enable me to give it the necessary per- 



