No. 9. 



Productive Straivberries. — Letter of R. L. Allen. 



273 



the country, and more especially in high 

 sandy soils. What is the secret of the great 

 productiveness, great beauty, and high fla- 

 vor of this pear in some districts of the coun- 

 try — as in western New Yorki — Editor of 

 Horticulturist. 



Productiveness of Strawberries. — In 



all the long discussions about barren and fer- 

 tile strawberries, the actual amount which 

 each variety will yield per acre, which is of 

 great importance, appears to be entirely for- 

 gotten. To one who raises for market, it is 

 quite essential to raise such a variety as will 

 yield a surplus of a 100 per cent, above the 

 cost of raising, rather than one that will yield 

 no such surplus at all; and the home culti- 

 vator wishes to get as much for his labor and 

 land as practicable. Only a few statements of 

 the amount per acre have been made. Ho- 

 vey's Seedling, it is said, has yielded 2000 

 qts, or more than 62 bushels per acre. The 

 Old Hudson (of Cincinnati) which is probably 

 the most productive of all strawberries as yet 

 cultivated, has produced, according to Nicho- 

 las Longworth, at the rate of 5,000 qts. or 156 

 bushes perjicre. Burr's Late Prolific, a new 

 variety lately originated at Columbus, Ohio, 

 it is stated, yielded 35 qts. on a bed six feet 

 by 20, which is about 240 bush, per acre ; it 

 doubtless received the best possible culture. 

 It would be very interesting, and of great 

 value, to know the comparative productive- 

 ness of the different varieties of the straw- 

 berry, raised side by side, and treated precise- 

 ly alike. Such experiments would greatly 

 facilitate the selection of the best sorts, for 

 each different part of the country. — ISeaVs 

 Gazette. 



Letter of R. L. Allen. 



The banks of the Ohio exhibit the same 

 bold and attractive scenery which character- 

 izes those of the Monongahela. There is, 

 however, this difference. The elevated 

 rocky heights, which seem almost to over- 

 hang the latter, frequently affording scarcely 

 a by-path along the shore, recede from the 

 margin of the former, leaving a wide alluvial 

 bed on either side, beyond which the hills 

 rear their gracefully rounded or precipitous 

 crests, still almost everywhere covered by 

 the original forests. These, with the herb- 

 age on the plains below, had been stricken 

 by the autumnal frosts ; and in the absence 

 of the cheerful hue of the evergreens which 

 line the more northern streams, gave a 

 somewhat sombre aspect to the scenery. 

 When clad in a luxuriant foliage of sum- 

 mer, I can imagine few views of the same 

 extent, that afford more interest and beauty. 

 For neafly 800 miles, through the perpetual 



windings of the Ohio, scarcely a single 

 view can be found that would not make an 

 attractive picture. 



If shorn of its forests, more densely popu- 

 lated, and thoroughly cultivated, with nu- 

 merous vineyards up its steep hill sides, with 

 here and there an old castle occupying its 

 almost inaccessible heights, the banks of the 

 Ohio would resemble those of the Rhine. 

 The castles and their feudal oppressors, I 

 trust we may never see; but the cultivation 

 of the vine is destined to be much more ex- 

 tensive here than it ever was or ever can be 

 on the banks of Germany's famed river. 

 Many vineyards are now planted on the 

 Ohio, and the soil and climate are found 

 suited to the production of the grape. Its 

 success is now placed beyond a doubt. The 

 perseverance and skill already enlisted in its 

 cultivation, will eventually enable the vine 

 growers of Ohio to supply the Union with 

 its wine and winter grapes. I have full 

 confidence in the future application of chem- 

 ical principles to the preservation of this de- 

 licious fruit. This will furnish us a bountiful 

 supply for months after its harvest, as a sub- 

 stitute for the insipid foreign grape which 

 now graces the desert, rather as luxury to 

 the eye than to the palate. I have seen 

 many specimens of wine from the native 

 vines, which, though generally differing in 

 character from most of the imported, are 

 rich in flavor, and yield the luscious odor and 

 taste peculiar to that of the well-ripened 

 foreign grape. When connected railroads 

 shall have crossed the Alleghanies, and 

 brought this fertile valley into close prox- 

 imity, with the seaboard — which they will 

 soon do — the markets of the Atlantic cities 

 will be as fully and as regularly supplied 

 with luscious grapes, as they now are with 

 the fresh milk and cream carried to them 

 from a hundred miles in the interior. 



We reached Cincinnati in one of the well- 

 conducted packet boats which run between 

 this place and Pittsburg, in about forty hours. 

 Here all was activity and bustle. Success 

 had followed the last year's efforts of the 

 merchant, the manufacturer, the artisan, and 

 the farmer. Famine abroad, and war at 

 home, had created a demand for the products 

 and energies of all, and crowned each with 

 prosperity. The consequences were evident in 

 the lengthening streets, the new and massive 

 buildings, and the more than Herculean ex- 

 cavations of the surrounding hills, which 

 everywhere met the eye. The site occupied 

 by this city is a segment of successive table 

 lands (originally requiring but little grad- 

 ing), of which the river forms the arc, and a 

 cordon of high precipitous hills, the chord. 

 The table lands are already nearly covered 



