®M4W®lEMl®i, 



"We present this new Descriptive Catalogue to the World, which is probably the last one 

 .vhich will ever be prepared by the present author (Wm. R. Fringe), as our time'is now mainly 

 devoted to an object of f^ar more prominent importance to humanity — The Analyses of our 

 American Medical Flora ! We claim for this Catalogue that the different varieties are described 

 with critical accuracy and impartiality, and that it presents to the strawberry-grower a perfectly 

 reliable guide. We also announce that in this immense Collection, there is not one mixed 

 bed, nor one dubious plant, the whole having long continued under our personal supervision, 

 and that we expressly guarantee the accuracy of every variety transmitted from our Gardens. 



We are influenced m making these comments, by several false statements made by Mr. 

 J. Knox, expressly to delude the public. He says : " We (J. Knox) can supply all or nearly 

 hU of the kinds found in the different Nursery Catalogues, but many of them we do not think 

 worth while to enumerate." This assertion is vtterly tmfrne. lie has but four varieties that 

 we deem worthy of general culture, and none of above 130 Special Varieties of the highest 

 merit described in this Catalogue ; but he fills up two pages by a list of names of 70 varieties, 

 comprising the trash which have been exploded by all intelligent cultivators for many years 

 past. This fact he inadvertently admits, when he says in another place : " We have on our 

 grounds over 100 varieties, many of which are worthless, or only valuable in keeping up a 

 large collection." He warns the public against "buyinjj^ the same variety under different 

 names," when he, above all others, has been guilty of committing such errors — witness his 

 selling River's Eliza for the British Queen for many years and even now, as well as publishing 

 Lennig's White under the two additional names of "Albion White" and "White Pineapple," 

 tlie Crimson Cone and Scotch Runner as distinct varieties; and even the Jucunda, an English 

 variety, he concealed the true name of, until our Description of it rendered further false naming 

 of it an impossibility. We could show up a further mass of confusion, inexcusable ignorance, 

 and errors, by which the public have been duped and misled for years, yet we purposely refrain, 

 but we feel impelled to say thus much, as this man constantly endeavors to conceal his own 

 defieiencies by depreciating the labors of others. Verbum Sap. 



Of the 180 varieties embraced in our present Collection, all the older varieties have been 

 lully described in elaborate Articles on the Fragaria Family, communicated by Wm. R. Phince, 

 and published in the Reports of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and in the 

 Transactions ^f the American Institute. It is, therefore, deemed only necessary here to 

 describe fully the New and Recent Varieties. It will be realized at once that these comprise 

 many of the most estimable varieties which are now offered for the first time, and are not at 

 present obtainable from any other source. The public taste is now becoming rapidly awakened 

 to trie appreciation of the siveet, high-f.avored and perfumed varieties of the Strawberry, and 

 such miserably sour and flavorless trash as the Downer, Cutter, Ellsworth, Wilson, Agriculturist, 

 Monitor, Ida, &c., will not be tolerated by amateurs who are familiar with good fruit, although 

 liioy may be palmed upon the ignorant. We now offer" the choicest varieties that the co-laborers 

 of the world have produced, and among these there are 40 very estimable varieties originated 

 by ourselves, which are distinguished by an asterisk (*)and which we have selected from many 

 thousands of hybridized Seedlings. We desire "to also announce, that we have above 2,000 

 distinct Seedlings, Avhich are to be fruited for the first time the ensuing year, whose highly 

 promising appearance has been most favorably commented on by Prof Huntsman, our neighbor, 

 so well known for his Fragarian discriminations. Several now announced have white flesh, and 

 they are all greatly superior to the mnss of New Seedlings which are annually spawned upon the 

 public, whose destiny is to be cast aside after being once tested. It has become highly necessary 

 that a proper discrimination should be made, by a judicious selection of varieties best suited 

 to field culture for market. In one district of New Jersey, deemed highly favorable for the 

 Strawberry culture, the crop of 1865 is said to have been $30,000, which in 1866 dwindled to 

 ^3,000. What was the cause of this great failure? Nothing can account for it except the 

 mjudicious selection of the plants. It is a scientific fact, based on n6rmal physical structure, 

 that the Pistillate, or Female vaHeties of any species of the Strawberry, will produce a crop of 

 ruit fifty per c^nt. greater than the Hermaphrodites can possibly produce. It is a,lso a normal 



