October 11, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
313 
flat florets, spreading widely from the axis, very slightly overlapping at 
the base, and as the points are free the flowers have a distinctly star-like 
form. The majority do not exceed 2 inches in diameter, and their neat¬ 
ness of form combined with their bright colour is fast rendering them 
great favourites. The woodcut (fig. 58) represents two of these, and 
show the characters of the type admirably. The shaded form is Magpie, 
the florets being light in the centre with a crimson margin ; the other 
is an unnamed seedling, brilliant crimson in colour, and very free. A 
beautiful orange-scarlet-coloured variety, named Bedding Gem, in this 
group is also noteworthy, as the colour is a peculiarly distinct shade, 
and it is extremely free. Yellow, maroon, dark scarlet, “ crushed straw- | 
are Sulphur Queen, brilliant yellow ; Empress, pure white ; Union Jack, 
white, edged with crimson ; and Orangeman, rich orange. 
AMERICAN VINES AND THE PHYLLOXERA. 
In reply to your correspondents who ask at page 292 what evidence 
I can adduce in proof of the Strawberry Grape beiDg an American 
variety, I have only to say that my experience of this Grape and the 
American Catawba is that they are one and the same variety, and Mr. 
Barron’s description of the latter in “Vines and Vine Culture,” page 237, 
goes to strengthen my opinion on this point, insomuch as it agrees in 
every particular with the character of the Grapes grown here under the 
Fig. 53.—MAGPIE. 
’berry,” and many other shades are represented, but most of these 
varieties are at present unnamed. 
The next group comprises those varieties with “flat florets”—that 
is, the florets radiate at right angles from the axis, regularly overlapping 
(nearly to the tips, but the margins and apex do not fold or reflex in 
any degree. This section is readily distinguished, the florets beirg much 
broader than the last-mentioned, and the former may be considered as 
an improvement on the original single Dahlias. The two shown in 
fig. 59 (p. 317) are typical representatives of the group. Dr. Moffat, a greatly 
improved Paragon, recently certificated, and resembling the parent in 
colour, is a beautiful variety, more constant than the older form. The 
other, Danger, is a rich scarlet variety, wonderfully free and bright, 
quite unrivalled in its colour. Four other fine varieties in this section 
CRIMSON SEEDLING. 
names of the Fox and Strawberry Grape, and of which I send by this 
post a sample for your opinion. Hence my associating it with the 
American varieties of Grapes.—H. W. Ward. 
[The Strawberry Grape before U3 is evidently a variety of Vitis 
labrusca, an American species, but was probably raised in Europeans 
it was not known in America when M. Planchon made his exhaustive 
investigation of American Grapes. It is distinct from the Catawba, 
which, however, is a variety of the same species. The history of the 
Strawberry Grape is given as follows in Barron’s “ Vines and Vine 
Culture,” page 229. “This singular Grape is generally assumed to be 
of American origin, on account, it may be supposed, of the great 
similarity in the leaves, and in the character of the fruit, to the native 
American Grapes. It is, however, we believe, of European origin. Lady 
Cave sent us some fruit from near Montreaux, on the Lake of Geneva, 
and stated that she found it in the market at Gray, on the Saone, west of 
Dijon, which almost fixes its nativity to that district."] 
