198 Further Particulars of the Downton Strawberry. 



tageous circumstance of their blossoms being raised wholly 

 above the foliage. The fruit retains its taste and flavour 

 some days after it has become ripe, and is never more ex- 

 cellent, than when it has acquired a very deep colour, and 

 has begun to shrivel. It is also capable of being kept two 

 or three days after being gathered : and from the reports I 

 have received of the state in which you received it, I con- 

 clude that it bears travelling well. 



I have given runners of this Strawberry to many of my 

 friends, and I have reason to believe, that it will succeed in 

 every kind of soil ; and amongst more than one thousand 

 different varieties, which I have raised, it is by far the most 

 productive of fruit. Of the merits of that fruit, in taste and 

 flavour, as you and several Members of the Society have 

 had opportunities of judging of them, 1 wish to decline giv- 

 ing an opinion. By dividing the few old plants I possessed 

 in the last spring, I made a considerable plantation, and I 

 have therefore a prospect of supplying the Society with a 

 very large number of runners in the next year, if such should 

 be wanted. 



I remain, 



my dear Sir, 



sincerely yours, 

 Thomas Andrew Knight. 



Domvton, 

 Jug. 12, 1820. 



