282 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



to every one bushel of the " Superior" and " Prolific." So these facts 

 would seem to knock the gauze off of the " throwing aside," etc., by Mr. L., 

 of the "Hovey." 



"Nine tenths of the berries (Hovey's) are of small size," says our friend. 

 He is forgetful. Every member of the Horticultural Society knows, or 

 ought to know, that in every contest, last season, between the " Hoveys" on 

 one side, and the " Superior" and " Prolific" on the other, that the former 

 came off victorious, and was awarded all the premiums. Setting aside 

 " Linnseus," the " illiterate market gardener," and all the " spirit rappers" 

 with which Mr. L. is usually haunted, this would seem a strange infatuation 

 in the horticultural committee in their award to the " Hovey" berry. Had 

 Mr. Longworth passed through our markets and attended our horticultural 

 exhibitions last June, he would hardly have been guilty of such unwarrant- 

 able assertions as he has made in reference to " Hovey's Seedling." 



Mr. Longworth further says : " There is no pistillate equal to the Superi- 

 or — no hermaphrodite of a tenth part of the value of the Prolific, ever raised 

 in Europe or America." Now this is sheer nonsense. Although the " Su- 

 perior" and the " Prolific" have been prominently kept before the public by 

 our friend for some six or eight years, yet, save in the hands of a few ama- 

 teurs, it is nowhere to be found. And why ? Simply because they are 

 unsuited to field culture. The plants will not stand our rigid winters, nor 

 our dry, hot summers. 



Again, the " Superior" is entirely unfit for a market berry. It is a dull, 

 dead, heavy color — tender, and easily bruised — and hence soon made sour 

 by transportation, and unfit for the table. I never saw but one box or draw 

 of them in market, and they were selling at just two thirds the price of a 

 drawer of " Hoveys," by the side of them. Knowing the sympathies of our 

 horticulturists, hereabouts, being in favor of the Cincinnati kinds, and their 

 prejudice against the " Hovey" berry, it would seem a very strange sort of 

 infatuation to give the premiums to the latter — one third higher price for 

 them in market, and also to cultivate them quite exclusively for our own 

 markets. It is true the " Superior" is most excellent in flavor, and any 

 gentleman prepared to mulch his plants in winter, and to water them in 

 summer, I would unhesitatingly recommend him to grow the " Superior" 

 and " Prolific" for family use. Further, this deponent sayeth not. They 

 are both good berries, and it is not necessary that Mr. Longworth should 

 attempt to elevate the latter by dragging down the former. 



The subject of which I treat is to Mr. Longworth the " harp of a thou- 

 sand strings," upon which he is ever ready to play. But there is one motto 

 to which I propose to call his attention, and that is, to "let justice be done 

 though the heavens fall." 



For universal cultivation, Mr. Hovey's berry stands without a rival in this 

 country ; and there is an interesting reminiscence wherein one of the vota- 

 ries of the great " Superior" attempted to appropriate the same for the latter 

 berry. I am proud to say, however, that Mr. Longworth is not that man. — 

 William Stoms. 



