Retrospective Crit'cisJii. ^33 



rejected. The present collection forms the climax to which this favorite 

 fruit has attained, and all are true and correct as described." Are we not 

 told here that the merits of the. list of strawberries, then offered for sale, 

 had been " investigated with great care,'''' and that all were " as descriledV 

 Was not the " British Queen," described as of ^^ first quality, ?nonstrous 

 size, and great!)/ esteemed T^ Yet now it is " irasA," and our " transatlantic 

 friends" are desired to bestow upon us no more such favors. Is not this 

 correspondent of yours the climax of humbug ? Surely, as you have said, 

 " to condemn the Beehive beause it is staminate, is perfectly absurd." 



Your correspondent has highli/ eulogized what he chooses to call the 

 " Montevideo Pine" strawberry. This is an old and staminate variety, 

 (therefore worthless by his own testimony,) " Turner^s Pme,^^ cultivated 

 by your correspondent for some years, originally called by this name in his 

 catalogues, shown by this name in his grounds, and subsequently exhibited 

 as Turner^s Pine, with Montevideo Pine as a synonyme, before the late 

 Queen's County Horticultural Society. Not only has W. R. P. changed 

 a proper name, recognized as such by the London Horticultural Society, 

 but he has undertaken to form a class of strawberries as '■^Montevideo 

 Pines,^^ though upon what authority, or botanical principles, he does not 

 venture to explain. In England, where Turner's Pine originated, it was 

 ranked as second quality, and is now, I believe, altogether discarded from 

 cultivation. The plant is highly staminate, {trash of course,) and a very 

 poor bearer, which may perhaps account for its scarcity in European collec- 

 tions. In appearance, it is attractive, foliage large, footstalks of the leaves 

 very strong and downy, readily distinguishing it from other varieties, The 

 blossoms are very large, so is the fruit ; in shape conical, flavor good. W. 

 R. P. has cultivated his so-called " Montevideo Pines" for nearly five 

 years, and has as yet sold only few, if any, of the plants, still I doubt much 

 if, with all his skill and care bestowed upon them, he has any more plants 

 now of the original variety than he had when he began. Though the 

 plants appear very vigorous, they make comparatively but few runners ; 

 most of these our winter kills, and the old plants die off in spite of every 

 care. The design of Mr. Prince's communications to the horticultural 

 periodicals, does not appear to be the promulgation of useful facts or infor- 

 mation, but to puff his goods at the expense both of the proprietors and 

 readers thereof; and it is to be hoped that his seedlings will prove better 

 than their parent, for, if they are not, the public will have again been most 

 sadly misled by " high-sounding names" and exaggerated statements. 



As the soil and climate of Europe may be as unfavorable to the cultiva- 

 tion of American, as our soil and climate are to many European varieties 

 of strawberries, it is to be desired that, for the common reputation of the 

 country, as well as that of Mr. P., the persons in Europe, who have 

 ordered these new and superior varieties of American strawberries, may 

 not be disappointed in the expectations they may have formed of their esti- 

 mable qualities, from Mr. P.'s descriptive catalogue, as is stated by that 

 eminent French nurseryman, Mons. Vib^rt, to have been the case with 

 varieties of our native grapes, which, however valuable in their native 



