292 London Horticultural SocUty's 



described in books on gardening, and in the catalogues of 

 nurserymen, as possessing so many good qnalities, that the 

 cuhivator has been quite confused while endeavoring to 

 make a choice selection of eight or ten kinds. The Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society, a long time ago, saw the evil 

 which the cultivation of so great a number of kinds must 

 inevitably produce, and, to render aid to the cultivator, 

 Mr. Barnet, of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, of 

 Scotland, by authority of the Society, divided the whole 

 into classes, and accurately described fifty-four varieties, 

 in Vol. VI. of its Transactions. This was in 1822. 



The first edition of the Society's Catalogue contains 07ie 

 Jiundred and twenty-one varieties : the second, one hundred 

 and twelve : but. in the third edition, the whole num- 

 ber considered worthy of growth has been reduced to 

 thirty-one, all of which we have noticed below. Even 

 some of these may yet be discarded : but the labor of se- 

 lecting a few fine sorts is now materially abridged by the 

 limited number which are now recommended, compared 

 with the Catalogue of I80I. It will be seen that all the 

 varieties in the Classes IV and VI — the white and green 

 strawberries — have been entirely discarded. 



In this country, great attention has been given to the 

 cultivation of the strawberry, within a few years. The 

 success which attended our efforts to introduce new varie- 

 ties, by means of the production of seedlings, has been a 

 great incentive to amateur cultivators to attempt the growth 

 of new varieties; and since 1836, when ours was first 

 brought into notice, many other seedlings have been raised, 

 some of them promising considerable merit. It is well 

 known, that many of the English varieties, though other- 

 wise desirable sorts, are quite tender in our climate ; and, 

 on this account, their cultivation is not to be recommended. 

 To supply this deficiency has been a desideratum. It 

 now, we believe, no longer exists, as we have seedlings 

 which arc not only perfectly hardy, but of superior quali- 

 ties, in all other respects, to any foreign varieties that have 

 yet been fruited in our gardens. 



The continued production of seedlings, with a view to 

 further improvements in size as well as flavor, we would 

 constantly urge. The clforts of the late Mr. Knight, the 

 raiser of tlie Do wnton and Elton, and Mr. Keen, the originator 

 of the seedlina: which bears his name, are well known. 



