576 
CON TEMPORA RY WRITI N G S . 
Caroline Marniesse, creamy white, like Fell- 
cite Perpetiicllc Ten-Scented : Vieomtesse 
de Cazes, buff and j^ellow, variable. 
The Black Prikce Strawberry, ripened 
in the open air near London, is of a handsome 
dark brownish red colour, and was this year 
ripe a fortnight before the earliest scarlet 
strawberries. It was not so good as the 
British Queen and Elton ; like them, was far 
behind the old Pine, the king of strawberries; 
but was quite as good as Keens' Seedling. It 
appears that it is always very early, pre- 
ceding the scarlet varieties by a full week or 
ten days. Under these circumstances it 
deserves to be generally dispersed, for the 
gain of a week in the strawberry season is im- 
portant. It may not, however, answer the 
purpose" of market-gardeners, because it is too 
small for the shops. Mr. Beaton, Sir W. Mid- 
dleton's gardener at Shrublands, in a letter 
dated June 27th, writes, — " The Black Prince 
Strawberry is as distinct in the growth and 
shade of colour in the leaves, as to be noticed 
froni others in the same bed at some distance 
from them. Its early qualities there can be 
no doubt about, for I had it in bloom here 
this season, in the same quarter with Keens' 
Seedling, full fifteen days before it. I tasted 
the fruit of it last year, and found it as good 
and well-flavoured as any other sort, except- 
ing always the prolific Hautbois. Last 
season we tried forced plants, turned out of 
the pots, and planted on a sunny border, 
against forced Keens' Seedlings, treated after 
the same manner, and also against our autumn 
Alpines. The result was very favourable to 
the Black Prince, of which we gathered fruit 
down to the first frosty weather, while very 
few of the others came to table in the autumn." 
This opinion is confirmed by others ; so that 
as a variety earlier than any, as late as any, 
and much better than many, the Black Prince 
Strawberry may be recommended. — Gar- 
dener's Chronicle. 
Preparing Seeds for a Sea Voyage. — 
All seeds should be picked when fully ripe, 
and carefully kept dry during the voyage. 
Various means of doing this have been tried, 
such as soldering in tin cases, hermetically 
sealing, &c. But perhaps the best way of all 
is to wrap your seeds in separate bags of 
thick brown paper, and put all these bags 
together in a strong canvass sack, which must 
be so laid, in a dry place, as to be easily got 
at during the voyage ; then you must choose 
fine dry sunny days, at intervals, on which 
the sack may be emptied out, and each paper 
bag carefully examined ; if any have become 
at all damp, hang them up to the roof of the 
cabin, or other convenient place, until dry, 
and then restow them. The stern cabin in 
the poop is the best place for keeping your 
seed-bag. — Handbook of New Zealand. 
The Frontispiece contains representations 
of the following plants : — JPentstemon cyanan- 
thus, a fine, North American hardy perennial, 
with a dense pyramid of delicate sky-blue 
flowers ; Mitraria coccinea, a slender Chilian 
shrub nearly hardy, with vermilion tubular 
flowers dangling on slender footstalks ; Epi- 
mediam pinnatum, a Persian hardy perennial, 
with elegant yellow blossoms produced some- 
what in advance of the foliage ; and Lapa- 
geria rosea, a splendid Chilian climber, which 
we believe has not yet flowered in this country, 
although the plant is in cultivation. The 
three latter of these plants have been already 
described more fully, and figured in the pages 
of the Annals of Horticulture. 
