Pomological Gossip. 71 



three varieties of Strawberries were added to the List of 

 Fruits worthy of general cultivation : these varieties were 

 the Large Early Scarlet (as reported by the general Com- 

 mittee,) Hovey's Seedling and Boston Pine. The two first 

 of which were unanimously added to the list, and the last, 

 with but a single dissenting vote, and that by Mr. T. Han- 

 cock of Burlington, New Jersey, who said he had found it a 

 shy bearer on his sandy soil. It was highly gratifying to 

 find our seedlings so highly appreciated and eulogized, by 

 gentlemen from almost every state in the Union. 



But the question arises, what is the Large Early Scarlet ? 

 The Massachusetts State Committee, among whom were S. 

 Walker, Esq. President of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, and Mr. R. Manning of Salem, reported the Early 

 Virginia, as one which should be added to the list : and the 

 same fruit was afterwards reported as the Large Early Scar- 

 let. The vote, we have said, was unanimous ; but yet it was 

 a singular one. Gentlemen from New England stated that it 

 was synonymous with the Early Virginia, one of our earliest 

 varieties, and they voted for it, knowing it to be so from their 

 own experience. On the contrary, gentlemen from New 

 York and the West, denounced the Early Virginia as a 

 " worthless berry, ''^ and in no way to be compared to the 

 Large Early Scarlet. The question then was, were they 

 diff'erent in quality, or only in name ? and on this point, Mr. 

 Barry, of Rochester, stated they were very different fruits : 

 as he had had plants of the Early Virginia from Boston, and 

 they were quite unlike his Early Scarlet ; so that while half 

 of the members of the convention were voting for the Earh' 

 Virginia which the other half pronounced Avorthless ; that 

 half were voting for a variety that the other knew nothing 

 about. For our own part, we do not believe there is any 

 difference between the Early Virginia and the Large Early 

 Scarlet. The former is certainly not a " worthless " berry, 

 though we do not think it worth cultivation only on ver^^ 

 light sandy soils, which are likely to be affected by drought. 

 In good ground the Boston Pine will produce twice as much 

 fruit, and quite as early as the Early Virginia, to say nothing 



