1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
103 
The Sharpless Strawberry. 
Among the berries of recent introduction, the 
Sharpless appears to have stood the test of last year’s 
cultivation in a very satisfactory manner. It is cer¬ 
tainly a remarkable plant in its foliage, the leaves 
on even very young plants being enormous. This 
fact must be borne in mind in planting it, as it 
must be given abundant room if one expects to 
grow large fruit. Some of the large varieties pro¬ 
duce a few very large berries on a plant, but what 
is wanted, is large crops of large berries, and from 
what we have seen of the Sharpless, it looks as if it 
would not disappoint us in either the size of the 
berries, or the number of them. To judge of the 
value of a variety, one should see the fruit on the 
plants. A few selected berries from a large bed, 
give no idea of what was left behind. Mr. E. P. 
Roe gave us last year a photograph of the whole 
produce of a little vine, which had been set in his 
grounds at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, only two 
months before the “ crop’’.was taken from it, and 
we had an engraving made of the picture. Those 
unused to strawberries, may think it does not tell 
a very large story for the Sharpless, while straw¬ 
berry-growers will see in it indications of a large 
yield, especially considering that this is from a 
recently set plant, that should not have borne any¬ 
thing. It shows the peculiar shape of the fruit, and 
also its tendency to irregular forms, a character 
less manifest on old, and well established plants. 
As to quality ; while we do not rank it as the very 
best, it is remarkably good for a very large berry, 
and we do not think there will be any complaints 
on the score of excellence. We shall look in vain 
for the highest quality, joined to the largest size. 
The Fraxinella. 
Sometimes old plants are much rarer than novel¬ 
ties, and such is the case with Fraxinella, which 
has been in cultivation for well nigh 300 years. 
The plant is a hardy perennial herb, belonging to 
the Rue Family, and is a native of Southern Europe. 
It has a large strong root, from which arise several 
THE 8HABPLESS STBAWBERKY. 
stems about two feet high, though in rich soil, well 
established plants are sometimes three feet. The 
compound leaves consist of from 9 to 13 ovate 
leaflets, and as they bear a resemblance to the leaves 
of the Ash-tree, the plant was called Fraxinella, 
the diminutive of Fraxinus, the botanical name of 
the Ash. The flowers terminate 
the stem in a large, spike-like 
cluster 8 inches or more long, 
consisting of flowers of the 
shape shown in the engraving ; 
the pendent character of the 
fifth petal, and the peculiar 
curving of the conspicuous 
stamens and styles, give the 
flowers an air of quaintness 
quite peculiar. The petals are 
of a light purple or purplish- 
rose color, handsomely and dis¬ 
tinctly viened with dark-red. 
There is a variety with pure 
white flowers, and the two kinds 
together make a pleasing con¬ 
trast. The plant has a very 
strong odor, all parts, but es¬ 
pecially the stalks to the flow¬ 
ers, being furnished with glands 
which secrete a volatile oil; this 
has an odor much like lemon, 
but when the plant is rubbed or 
bruised the scent is very strong, 
reminding one of turpentine, 
and to most persons not agree¬ 
able. A well known horticul¬ 
turist once told us that could 
he have but one perennial flow¬ 
ering plant it would be Frax¬ 
inella, mentioning as a reason 
for selecting it, that, in addition 
to the beauty of its flowers, it 
possessed such an agreeable 
perfume. We rather agree with 
Old Parkinson, who in “The 
Garden of Pleasant Flowers” 
(1650), in describing the plant, 
says that the leaves, etc., “ are 
of a strong scent, not so pleas¬ 
ing for the smell, as the flowers 
are beautiful to the sight.” It 
is not strange that a plant with 
so marked an odor should have 
been employed in medicine, but 
as it has no superiority over a 
host of other aromatics, it long ago passed out of 
use. Parkinson, already referred to, says of it: 
“It is held to be profitable against the stingings of 
Serpents, against contagious and 
pestilent diseases, and in Epilep- 
tical diseases and other cold pains 
of the brains”—and much more 
besides. The plant is really a very 
stately and showy one, and while 
we would not, like the friend 
quoted, give it preference over all 
others, it would certainly be in¬ 
cluded in any choice collection of 
herbaceous perennial plants. Prob¬ 
ably the chief reason that the 
plant is so seldom seen in our 
gardens is, that old seeds are of 
difficult germination, though 
scalding is said to help them. 
With recently ripened seeds we 
have found no difficulty. It may 
also be multiplied by dividing the 
large roots. The botanical name 
of the plant is Dictamnus Fraxind- 
la, the first is an old Greek name 
for this or some other plant: the 
meaning of the other has already 
been given. We should not omit 
one striking peculiarity of the 
plant; in a hot day it gives off 
its aromatic oil in the form of a 
vapor, and so abundantly that it 
will bum. This is best seen in 
the dusk of a hot day ; by applying 
a light near the lower part of the 
plant this vapor will burn with a sudden flash of 
flame two or three feet high. It does not appear to 
injure the plant at all, and the experiment is very 
astonishing to those who have never seen it be¬ 
fore. The formation of this volatile, aromatic oil is 
so rapid and abundant that a fire flash of its vapor 
THE fraxinella (Dictamnus Fraxinella). 
can be easily obtained from the same bush fo 1 ’ 
quite a number of evenings in succession. 
Fruit-Growers in Texas. 
Should Texas in 10 years from now suddenly ap¬ 
pear as the great fruit-growing State of the Union 
it would not surprise us. With great capabilities 
in a most wonderful variety of soil and climate, 
she has also a people who are taking advantage of 
these, and a vast deal in the way of tree planting 
and horticultural improvement is going on, of which 
the rest of the country does not hear. Some five 
years ago, the owner of the principal nursery in 
the Southern States told us that his largest cus¬ 
tomers were in Texas, and that the bulk of his 
stock went to that State. As a natural consequence 
societies are being formed for united effort in the 
promotion of fruit-culture and horticulture gener¬ 
ally. The North Texas Pomological Society has 
monthly meetings at Denison, and has a member¬ 
ship of about 40 of the most active fruit-growers 
of Grayson and adjoining Counties. Its Secretary, 
T. V. Munson, Esq., sends us a sketch of the meet¬ 
ing on January 3d last, and, as some of the matters 
presented have a general interest, we present them 
to our readers. In Texas, as well as, if not more 
than, elsewhere, fruit-growing is at present largely 
A Battle with Insects. 
And this Society, appreciating this fact, proposes 
to act not only on the aggressive, but with a 
combined effort. One method will be to trap 
certain insects at night. The Secretary writes, 
that at this meeting “ several styles of lamps were 
presented for the consideration of the Society, 
which will adopt the form considered best, and 
have enough made to supply the members, each 
