JVotcs and Gleanings. 305 



The Strawberry and its Culture, with a Descriptive Catalogue of all 

 Known Varieties. By J. M. Merrick, Jr. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. i2mo. 

 pp. 128. Illustrated. Price $1.00. 



This little book will not, nor is it intended to, supersede the excellent works 

 of Fuller and others, on the same subject. Yet none of these are perfect ; and 

 as every new author endeavors to supply the deficiencies of those who have gone 

 before him, and as new information on this subject is continually accumulating, 

 we feel confident that an examination of it will show many new ideas of which 

 no cultivator of the strawberry can afford to be ignorant. The book is divided 

 into chapters on manures and preparation of the soil, on planting, on methods 

 of cultivation, on winter protection, on propagation, on insect enemies, on forcing 

 strawberries, on the production of new varieties, and on the question of taste, all 

 of which are written in a compact style, so that, though short, they contain much 

 valuable information. These chapters occupy sixty pages, and the remaining 

 and larger portion of the book is filled with a catalogue, which is intended to 

 contain the name of every known variety, and to do for the strawberry what 

 Downing has done for the larger fruits, but with even more fulness. This cata- 

 logue, which is accompanied with descriptions, longer or shorter, according to 

 the importance of the variety, is the novel feature of the book, and must be 

 invaluable to every cultivator, as, by reference to it, the worth of every variety 

 that has ever been in cultiv^ation, new or old, can be at once ascertained. More 

 than eight hundred sorts are noticed in it. 



Since writing the above, a friend, who, like John Gilpin, "has a pleasant wit," 

 has handed us the following notice of Mr. Merrick's book, which we append, in 

 the belief that our readers will enjoy it as much as we have : — 



Your valued contributor, Mr. J. M. Merrick, Jr., has burst out in a new 

 place. He appears this time as a star of some faint brilliancy in the horticul- 

 tural firmament, his book on the strawberry having just been published. 



Without beheving that this book will cause all the other luminaries to pale 

 their ineffectual fires, we predict for it a considerable measure of popularity. 



The author is thoroughly familiar with his subject, having made strawberries 

 and grapes an especial study, and having tested, on a small scale, a great number 

 of varieties within a few years. 



His position as one of the fruit committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society has helped him to inspect and examine most varieties here cultivated, 

 and to learn many valuable facts from the strawberry growers and contributors. 

 On the whole, we think he has produced a creditable book, and one which will 

 become a standard work, especially as a catalogue of varieties. 



More than half the work consists of an exhaustive descriptive catalogue of 

 varieties of the strawberry, arranged alphabetically. The incredible labor of 

 preparing and verifying the references in this list, of reconciling discordant de- 

 scriptions and conflicting opinions, can be estimated at its correct value only by 

 those who have had experience in similar work. 



"The writer of dictionaries," says Dr. Johnson, "has been considered not the 

 pupil, but the slave, of genius, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove 

 rubbish and clear obstructions from the path through which learning and genius 



VOL. VII. 39 



