Jane W, IBCS. 1 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTICULTUBB AMD COTTAGE QABDENEB. 



435 



excellent that it will be quite sufficient at preseot to describe 

 the leading traits of these only. 



No. 1 from its earliness and proUficacy I named Early 

 Prolific. This variety has a bright green leaf distinctly den- 

 tated, and the plant is an excellent grower and of very elegant 

 habit. I took forty plants from the parent, each ranner having 

 three or four plant?, and all of which, large and small, bloomed 

 so early that aboat one-third of the bloom was killed by the 

 spring frosts, which with ns this year have been intense and re- 

 markably persistent, scarcely having subsided even now. These 

 plants are now pictures of beauty, and have been giving ripe 

 fruit from the 1st of the month. Fruit large, beautifully conical, 

 and never gets out of shape, bright glossy crimson colour, 

 getting a little darker when thoron^y ripe ; seeds bat slightly 

 embedded ; flesh pare wliite, witb|the narrowest possible margin 

 of colour on section, firm throughout, juicy, and with a most 

 delicat« Pine flavour, which cannot fail to be appreciated by a 

 connoisseur in Strawberries. 



No. 2 I have named the Duke of KfJinbiirrih. It may be ob- 

 served that there is a sort of masculine and feminine character, 

 Eo to speak, about the general habit of the Strawberry plant 

 and its fruit, which leads one to name them accordingly, and 

 this fine handsome fellow at once suggested to my mind the 

 above name. Fruit large, and very large. I took twenty run- 

 ners of this kind from the parent ; for this and the following 

 kinds happened, unfortunately, to be near a tree which robbed 

 them of their powers, so that when I get this variety under 

 full culture I have no doubt that the fruit will be classed as 

 very large. Foliage bold and dark green, somewhat irregularly 

 dentate, with lon^ stifi leafstalks ; leaves less numerous than 

 iu No. 1, and quite a contrast in colour and habit ; fruit obo- 

 vate, very handsome, with a perfect outline, and never departs 

 from its normal shape, small reflected calyx, and glossy neck ; 

 in colour rather darker crimson than ^^o. 1 ; seeds numerous 

 and prominent ; flesh white, but a duller white than No. 1 ; 

 flavour piquant and excellent. Fruit now in full gathering, 

 and has been ripe from the 5th inst., rapidly succeeding Early 

 Prolific. Every plant, however small, is a bearer. 



No. 3. I purpose to name this variety, if it turns out to my 

 Eatisfaction as to size, Madame Gloede, as a little compliment 

 to my friend Mr. Gloede, than whom there docs not exist a 

 more enthusiastic, enterprising fragarian, and whose geniality 

 and kindness of disposition deserve a small tribute at my 

 hands. Foliage of medium colonr, with small regular serra- 

 tions ; plant neat and compact ; fruit roundish and occasion- 

 ally obovate, bright red ; flesh pale red, solid, juicy, and of 

 first-rate flavour ; seeds numerous and prominent ; size at 

 present large medium, but as the plants have not had the 

 benefit of good ciUture, I anticipate that the size will be 

 ordinarily large. 



No. 4 I propose to call Sir Hobert SopUr. Foliage bright 

 green, with a yellower tinge than No. 1 ; leaf firmer than that 

 variety, and not qaite so broadly serrated ; fruit rather longer 

 cone than Early Prolific, and occasionally slightly angular and 

 flattened ; calyx semi-reflected ; seeds numerous, and decidedly 

 prominent ; flesh pinky white and sometimes pink, firm and 

 juicy, with a piquant brisk aroma. 



No. 5, The Sultan, in honour of His Majesty's visit to this 

 country. Dark green foliage, and plant of similar habit to 

 No. 2, but leafstalks shorter, and leaves not quite so dark as in 

 that variety. Fruit large, obovate, and roimdish, type as to 

 shape not quite so perfect as in the Duke ; colonr dark crimson ; 

 seeds thickly disseminated and slightly depressed ; flesh darkish 

 red throughout, firm and juicy : flavour vinous and delicious. 



The above five varieties it will be observed are totally dis- 

 tinct in almost every particular from each other, and none of 

 them like the parent. They ripen in succession in the order 

 placed, and the respective fruits are for the most part larger 

 in the same order, save that No. 2 as an early second is larger 

 in proportion than the rest. The two first varieties I consider 

 so valuable as handsome additions to our early Strawberries, 

 that I think I should not be justified in keeping them to 

 myself. I intend, therefore, when the stock is sufficient (which 

 cannot be before next season), to take some means of bringing 

 them before the public ; and if no other channel opens, I may, 

 probably, give my gardener, who has necessarily taken much 

 trouble oS my hands during these long-continued operations, 

 the privilege of so doing. As a professional man, actively 

 engaged in various ways, it is doubtful whether I can go through 

 the usual routine of exhibiting these seedlings, but I shall do 

 so if time and circumstances permit ; but at any rate I hope 

 to give the Editors an opportunity of eiamining their merits, 



aa there ought to be some gnarantee to those at a distance 

 who cannot see my beds of the correctness of my descriptione. 

 Those who see the plants growing, see them to greater ad- 

 vantage, and many excellent judges of fruit in this neighbour- 

 hood who have visited my gardens have been struck with the 

 beauty and excellence of these varieties. I shall be happy to 

 see any one who feels disposed to give me a call, either this 

 season or next. 



The Early Prolific is so early, so handsome as a fruit and as 

 a plant, and so delicious in quality, that I feel sure it has no 

 compeer in its season of excellence, if form, colour, size, and 

 flavour combined in the same variety, are to be considered the 

 types of perfection ; whilst as to the Dake we have at once 

 a larger, handsomer Strawberry if possible than La Ccnstante, 

 before that splendid sort growing by its side is scarcely half 

 swollen, and certainly cannot be ripe in any quantity for some 

 fortnight or so to come. 



Amongst the remaining seedlings is a handsome, large-leaved, 

 large-fruited, variegated variety. Ibe fruit is not sufficiently 

 ripe to describe now, but 1 mention the subject because one or 

 two notices have lately appeared in the Gardenirf' Chronicle, 

 of a variegated variety in Devonshire. I was not aware of any 

 sHoh variety of bold growth and bearing large fruit being in 

 existence. I knew there were one or two Email-leaved sorts, 

 occasionally, but not very frequently, bearing a fruit about the 

 size of the wild Strawberry, remarkable only as curiosities ; 

 but Mr. Foote tells us in the GardfjiTi' Chronicle, of May 23rd, 

 that the Strawberry in question was found in a bed near Exeter, 

 in July, 1866, but whether it is a sport or a seedling he is unable 

 to say. I mast say, with aU due deference to the opinions of 

 others, that I do not believe in sports as to Strawberries. 

 Either it is a seedling or an unnoticed variety previously in 

 existence, there is no such thing as a sport ; but I quite agree 

 with Mr. Foote, that a handsome variegated variety equal even 

 as a bedding plant to some of our best Pelargoniums, must 

 ere long attract attention, and I felt myself very fortunate 

 (though, as Lord Dundreary says, "it's a thing that no feUah 

 can understand'), in having raised such a Strawberry, and 

 which I shall take another opportunity of noticing when I have 

 saved a little stock and know more of its qualities. That the 

 above, which I have temporarily named Pandora, is a genuine 

 seedling and from a good strain I know, from the fact that I 

 gathered and sowed the seed myself, and have witnessed 

 already the virtues of its allied seedlings. 



The foregoing and other facts within my knowledge have 

 only strengthened my opinion, that Mr. De Jonghe's theory as 

 to the utter uselessness of artificial fertilisation las enunciated 

 at page 363, Vol. VIII.. of Jocbsal of HcBnccLirEEi, je 

 perfectly sound and correct. Besides the above varieties, raised 

 from a sort nearly barren, which I have enumerated partly to 

 illustrate the truth of his theory, I have a similar instance in 

 the case of the celebrated large early sort. Marguerite, raised 

 by M. Lebreton. This sort, prolific enough on the continent, 

 with me almost refuses to bloom. Year after year I have cul- 

 tivated the plants under all kinds of circumstances, but nothing 

 would induce fertility. At length, previous to entirely giving 

 it up, I determined to sow the seed of the first fine fruit I 

 could get. I did so. and raised sixty seedlings, the whole of 

 which are fertile, and only one of them at all approaching to 

 the style of the parent, and many of them are so early and so 

 much higher flavoured than the parent (the chief desideratum), 

 that next year I hope to be able to speak of them. 



I have had delicious fruit from these seedlings without any 

 efforts as to situation, itc, from the 2Snh ult. The present 

 terribly dry, scorching weather in the midland counties is, how- 

 ever, very much against the runners, which I am endeavouring 

 to classify and save for the above ptupose. 



li another illustration were wanted in favour of Mr. De 

 Jonghe's theory, I have some seedlings from La Constante, 

 one o£ which (No. V2i, is very early, and of quite a distinct 

 shape and flavour, and extremely delicious. Another i^o. ^, 

 is a bold grower, with a bright green leaf hke Victoria, but 

 handsomer, with a firm, bright salmon red, perfectly-globular 

 fruit, which might but for its origin be justly called a much- 

 improved Victoria. Here is a perfect departure from every 

 characteristic of the parent, but the fruit is, nevertheless, in 

 another direction, a type of perfection. 



I have large quantities of other seedlings coming on. of 

 different strains to those above mentioned, from which I expect 

 great results ; and I may here observe that all depends upon 

 good hick in getting the right strain. With the same attention 

 and knowledge of the subject one man may be more fortunate 



