532 Old Colony Sweet Corn, its Culture, 8fc. 



the very few cases of artificial hybridization in this country, 

 your own strawberry, so very strangely overlooked (?) by 

 the Editor of the Horticulturist, (Vol. IV, p. 500,) being one 

 of the earliest, while its success is surely quite encouraging. 

 Somerville, October 25, 1850. 



We are highly pleased to give so full an account of the 

 production of Mr. Pope's Hybrid Corn. By his invitation 

 we visited his garden in Somerville last August, and we 

 were surprised at the growth of the stalks, and the forward- 

 ness of the ears. We had supposed, from its parentage, and 

 from the immense size of the ears, that it would be too late 

 for general cultivation. An inspection of it at once con- 

 vinced us we were in error. Notwithstanding the season 

 has been more than usually cold and backward, his situation 

 a bleak one, and the planting late, nearly all the ears have 

 arrived at their full growth and maturity, though many of 

 them contain eighteen and twenty rows each. 



It is gratifying to find such an evidence of interest in the 

 improvement of our culinary vegetables as that of the pro- 

 duction of this new variety of Sweet corn affords ; but it 

 shows how much may be achieved by perseverance and 

 attention. Few persons would have supposed it worth 

 while to spend time to try to acclimatize the Southern corn, 

 and fewer would have conceived the idea, by cross breeding, 

 of making it an edible vegetable — that is, in its unripe state. 

 Yet we see what good results have been obtained, simply by 

 a little forethought, combined with a knowledge of the great 

 effects of hybridization. 



Mr. Pope thinks strangely that the Editor of the Horti' 

 culturist should overlook our Seedling strawberry, when he 

 states that "he does not know of a single fruit that has been 

 originated directly by cross impregnation in the United 

 States, saving Dr. Brinckle's raspberries and strawberries." 

 There is nothing strange in this : on the contrary it Avould 

 have been strange to have seen him show sufiicient candor 

 to give any credit where it belongs. 



We are glad to state that Mr. Pope is raising a quantity 



