98 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



extra care to a new fruit which we are testing, and it may be that the 

 ordinary culture of some fruit growers would be quite extraordinary 

 with others. Yet the current of testimony is to the effect that it is a 

 productive variety. 



In point of flavor it ranks high, all who have given their opinion 

 agreeing that it is among the first in quality. Messrs. Ellwanger & 

 Barry do not hesitate to say that it is " the best strawberry now in 

 cultivation." The fruit is borne upon long trusses, but the weight of 

 the berries is such that they are bent to the ground. 



We have not yet fruited this variety, and therefore can not speak 

 from personal acquaintance with it in our own grounds ; but such is 

 the high estimate formed of it by gentlemen who are competent 

 judges of the merits of any fruit, that we are constrained to believe 

 that it is well worthy of the attention of strawberry growers, and 

 especially of gentlemen who grow them in their gardens for their own 

 tables. 



THE GEAPE VINE FLEA-BEETLE. 



Professor J. Henry Comstock, of Washington, District of Columbia, 

 writes to the ISTew York Tribune concerning this little, but sometimeii 

 troublesome insect, that he has been making some experiments in the 

 way of killing it when numerous. His communication is as follows i 



The Grape Vine Flea-Beetle (Haltica chalybea, Illiger) has been one of 

 the most formidable enemies that the grape growers of this country have 

 had to contend with. The qnly redeeming feature about it is that it 

 seldom appears in the same locality in great numbers during consecutive 

 years. These beetles leave their hibernating quarters in April, and attack 

 and destroy the young leaf-buds as soon as they appear ; later they feed 

 upon the leaves which have escaped their earlier ravages, and deposit their 

 eggs upon them. The eggs are of an orange color, and soon hatch into 

 small chestnut colored larvae. These larvae also feed upon the leaves, and 

 when they appear in great numbers sometimes strip the vines of their 

 foliage. After a month of active life the larvae descend to the ground and 

 bury themselves near the surface, where they make cells of the earth and 

 change to pupae of a dirty yellow color. The adult beetles issuing in the 

 course of a few weeks, again feed upon the leaves duiing the autumn, 

 doing, however, but little damage, and later seek their winter quarters 

 beneath the bark and splinters on the vines and the stakes which support 

 them, as well as under any rubbish that may be in the vineyard, 



This week specimens of this insect were brought me by Mr. A. R. 

 Phillips, of this city, with the statement that his vineyard in Virginia is 



