August 14, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTORE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



113 



The Countess comes next. This kind will prove the best 

 packer and carrier ever raised. The fruit is extremely fine 

 in coloar, being of a beautiful glossy crimson, and becoming 

 darker when very ripe. It is not quite so regular in shape as 

 the other varieties under consi.leratiou ; but the fruit is so 



4 







... u> 



m 



The Countess. 



good, its colonr so handsome, and, above all, its carrying pro- 

 perty so remarkable, that its occasional irregularity in shape 

 is quite condoned. Calyx partially reflected ; seeds thickly 

 disseminated and decidedly prominent; plant healthy and a 

 good grower; foliage bright glossy green, erect, and compact. 

 This and the above variety, I regret to say, cannot be offered 

 to the public till next season. 



Sir Jolin I'alstiiir is next in order. This is a midseasou and 

 m»in-erop variety. The predominant characteristics of this, 

 a different strain altogether from the foregoing, are its hardi- 

 hood ai:d enormous cropping qualities. It has never disap- 

 pointed me in a heavy crop from the first seedling plant, which 



Sir John Falstaff. 



slmck me with astonishment. The fruit is mostly very large 

 and handpome, frequently conical, and when very largo slightly 

 flattened in shape, as in the woodcut, but never cockscombed. 

 Colonr bright red with a tinge of vermilion ; seeds thickly dis- 

 persed and slightly depressed ; flesh white, solid, and juicy, 

 with a fine vinons flavour ; calyx small for so large a fruit, 

 and seldom reflected. On account of its beauty and immense 

 cropping qualities this will be a splendid sort for exhibition 

 and market purposes, but it would not carry a groat distance 

 BO well n» the Early Crimson Pine, or Countess more especially, 

 nor, indeed, would any other known sort. 



Kite ha II tress comes next. It is a late variety, coming in with 

 and lasting oat British Qaeen, but higher-flavoured and a 



better cropper than that esteemed good old kind. This is the 

 variety I originally named Lord Napier, but I was advised by 

 several of my horticultural frieuds to substitute another name, 

 fearing it might be confounded witii Sir Charles Napier ; and 

 every year it ha^ so won "iipou my good opinion and that of 



Lnt-bantrcsh. 



everyone who has seen it and tasted its fruit, that I have 

 adopted the above name. I think it will be admitted by all 

 who like a highly piquant fruit with a rich pine flavour, to be 

 the finest flavoured Strawberry ever raised. I have tested 

 this variety in every possible way. Though naturally a late 

 sort, under a south wall it makes a grand second early, whilst 

 under a north and east wall it comes in with Cockscomb and 

 Frogmore Late Pine. It requires a little sugar to bring out 

 its fine pine and Hautbois flavour, and then it is perfection. 

 Fruit large and of the prevailing shape of the annexed woodcut, 

 but frequently conical, and then it has a glossy neck and re- 

 flected calyx; colour scarlet, bcomiug a rich crimson when 

 fully ripe ; seeds small and prominent, bright yellow, and very 

 thickly disseminated ; flesh reddish, solid and very juicy, with 

 an exquisite pine flavour. A first-rate cropper, bearing its fruit 

 in clusters on shortish footstalks, so that its blossoms and 

 fruit are considerably hidden under and amongst its handsome, 

 slightly wrinkled, bright green foliage. This and the above 

 I think it is possible my gardener may try to bring out in the 

 present autumn ; but if so the stock will not be very large, 

 and the plants must bo issued in small numbers. 



I have many other valuable deviations from the ordinary 

 run of Strawberries under observation, but I must content 



GipBy yucen. 



myself for the present with one more illustration — viz., Gipsi/ 

 (fufrn. This I may intro luce one of these days on account 

 of its beautiful dark colour, thus forming an excellent con- 

 trast in the dessert. The fruit is chiefly globular, or nearly 

 so, but sometimes a blunt cone-shape, almost black when quite 



