Notes and Gleanings. 233 



Strawberries for Home Use. — First, as to varieties. Their name is 

 Legion ; but one is worth all the rest. Get the genuine " Wilson." Then, if 

 you wish to amuse yourself with beds of new and wonderful vines, all well ; but, 

 when you want berries, go to your Wilson bed, and you will not be disappoint- 

 ed. — Cor. Kansas Fanner. 



[It is hard to say whether it is more preposterous for a correspondent to 

 write such rubbish as the above, or for an editor to publish it. Especially ridic- 

 ulous is it for a man to give directions for the garden-culture of strawberries, 

 and end by insinuating that the Wilson is the only one that will reward the 

 grower. As a market-berry, the Wilson is everywhere acknowledged to be the 

 best, so far as productiveness is concerned ; but what can we say of Jie horti- 

 cultural adviser who coolly ignores Hovey's Seedling, La Constanta, and Tri- 

 omphe de Gand ? Besides these three, which every garden should have, there 

 are, we venture to say, twenty kinds, which, with proper care, will give some 

 sort of a crop, and all of which are immensely superior to the Wilson in 

 flavor. 



We have twenty or thirty kinds in our garden, but no Wilson ; nor do we 

 intend to set out any, unless we follow the ironical advice of a jocose acquaint- 

 ance, who advised us once to plant a few "just for our friends." 



We once wrote some notes on new strawberries for an agricultural paper ; 

 and our remarks called out a reply from a man out West, who " didn't wish to 

 hear any thing about any new kinds : the Wilson was good enough for him." 

 Happy man ! Did he never reflect that there must have been a time when even 

 the Wilson was not ; that it had been produced by experiment ; and that raisers 

 of seedlings are trying now to do what the originator of the Wilson did, — viz., 

 to produce something better than what had gone before ? 



If all were like him, ready to stop short of perfection, we should not have 

 had La Constante, nor the Agriculturist, nor the crowning glory, " President 

 Wilder." — AV.] 



This season, as usual, the appearance of caterpillars on gooseberry-bushes 

 has caused considerable anxiety in several parts of the country. In many dis- 

 tricts in FiTeshire, and particularly at Newburg, a famed and very extensive 

 fruit-growing strath, this pest is doing much mischief. As in the case of other 

 plagues, sundry remedies are being suggested and applied for the purpose of 

 getting rid of the vexatious visitation, some of which savor not a little of the 

 superstitious. For instance, one party has had twigs of broom stuck in amongst 

 the branches of the bushes, and another has planted rue {Ruta graveolcns) and 

 chamomile {Matricaria chaniontilla) plants at their roots, for the purpose of 

 getting rid of the pest. These, nevertheless, may tend in some way in making 

 the caterpillars less voracious on the bushes so treated ; for the smell as well as 

 the bitter tastes of such are doubtless disliked by insects. Hellebore powder, 

 lime, .ind soot have also been applied ; but nothing so effectually destroys the 

 vermin as soot, which is, independently, the cheapest cure and the most certain 

 preventive. When dusted on the bushes after a slight shower has fallen, or 

 after the leaves have been wetted, the vermin will soon drop off the leaves. 



