Seedling Strawberries. 147 



Our advice to our correspondent, based upon these principles, is this, — 

 to plant his trees, shrubs, and vines without regard to the drains. He will 

 probably never find his drains obstructed, except where there is a perennial 

 flow of water; and then he will probably have no serious difficulty for years. 

 If at some future time the drains should cease to operate, he can relay 

 them, or lay new ones between his rows of trees, as readily as he repaiis 

 his fences. 



The only regard we should pay to the chances of obstmction from roots 

 would be to lay three-inch instead of two-inch tiles where we expected a 

 flow of water through the. dry season. The larger tile having a capacity 

 more than double the smaller, or, to be exact, in the proportion of nine to 

 four, is far less liable to become unserviceable frcm obstruction of any 

 kind. 



[For a full discussion of the principles involved in this subject, we refer 

 our readers to French's " Farm Drainage." — Ed.] 



SEEDLING STRAWBERRIES. 



We learn, from " The Revue Horticole," that Dr. Nicaise of Chalons, to 

 whom we owe La Chalonnaise and La Sultane, is still enthusiastically at 

 work at his favorite occupation, — viz., producing new varieties of the straw- 

 berry, — and that he has succeeded admirably. Among the new varieties, 

 only one or two of which have been disseminated, the Abdel-Kader, Afri- 

 caine. Perfection, and Rubis are mentioned in terms of the highest praise. 

 The Alexandre II. is said to produce berries larger than the Dr. Nicaise ; 

 and yet the latter, we are told, has given its originator this season berries 

 weighing two and a half ounces. 



We have not been lucky with the Dr. Nicaise this year. Our plants set 

 in a cold frame last September have had assiduous attention, but have died 

 one after another, until we have only six or seven out of our original twen- 

 ty-five ; and these are poor and weak. We hope, however, that our readers 

 who have it will stick to it, and exhibit next year an abundance of berries 

 seven to the pound. 



