384 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



qualified assent if it was not smothered with a manifest determination upon 

 the part of the majority to impress the public mind with the idea that the 

 circumstances surrounding the cultivation of Hovey's Seedling were in an 

 extraordinary degree favorable, and the meed of praise was only awarded 

 until other varieties could be " properly tested," at least under those circum- 

 stances best suited to their particular requirements.'''' 



Astonishing ! Our eyes were almost picked out for intimating in the 

 minority Report thus : " If our subsequent experience and more familiar 

 acquaintance with McAvoy's Superior, under a variety of circumstances 

 and in different localities, have convinced us that the Committee was pre- 

 mature in making the award (of $100) to it as a berry superior in all respects 

 to Hovey's Seedling, we can be under no obligations to sustain that de- 

 cision," tSz-c. And now, after another year's experience with the great 

 " Superior," the majority (one half of whom are known to be uncompro- 

 misingly in favor of the Superior,) are constrained to place Hovey's Seed- 

 ling at the head of 'the list of strawberries for universal cultivation. It is 

 true they intermingle a few " ifs" and " ands," as they pass along, I pre- 

 sume, for the same reason that a sailor in a severe storm at sea prayed first 

 " good Lord," and then " good Devil," as he did not know whose hands he 

 would fall into. 



I can, with great confidence in the truth of my testimony, bear witness 

 that the evidences presented to the Committee in their visits, justify this 

 eulogy of Hovey's Seedling. The fruit at Messrs. Bates and Youtcy's was 

 truly gigantic, and I confess I was rejoiced to see our old friend A. H. 

 Ernst, Esq., collecting mammoth specimens as we passed over the grounds 

 of these gentlemen, and calling the attention of the members of the Fruit 

 Committee in ejaculations of wonder, admiration and praise, and I thought 

 the old gentleman stood at least six feet six as the darkness of past years 

 rolled from a mind now open to the convictions of truth, as the light shining 

 with such intense brilliancy poured into his soul, making the very " stumps" 

 and " grubs" which so thickly studded the fields shout aloud for joy, until 

 the surrounding hills echoed and reechoed the sound ; and our friend Riley 

 himself faintly uttered " Astonishing ! the very finest kind of strawberries 

 produced with less labor than we bestow upon an ordinary crop of po- 

 tatoes." 



But, Mr. President, as the Fruit Committee were to report upon what 

 they saw with their " eyes," and not their imaginations, I am utterly at a 

 loss to know where they found the original from which to draw the picture 

 they have given us of the " Superior." It is true, sir, that we found the 

 berries imperfectly impregnated, not, I think, from the absence of the preg- 

 nators, for other varieties, both in the grounds of A. H. Ernst and Mr. Pye, 

 presented perfect berries with equal impregnation. This is a characteristic 

 defect of this variety, and can only be remedied by excessive fertilization 

 under other favorable circumstances, hence unworthy general cultivation. 

 I say, sir, when the Committee found the fruit in the two days we were 

 visiting, which justified their saying, "There can be no doubt in the mind 

 of your Committee that this variety (McAvoy's Superior) is among the 



