512 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ June sr, log*.. 
constitutes its whole value, but only about half of it, the other half 
being its earliness. There is no other variety in general cultivation 
that ripens such fine crop3 of large well-shaped fruit so soon, by 
many days, as this doe3, and it is that combination of qualities— 
earliness and noble appearance—which renders it so valuable for 
market purposes ; moreover, the plant is constitutionally strong, 
and bears abundantly. This is its character in the heavy land at 
Chiswick, and more markedly in the sandy soil at Girtford. 
Some of the plants have produced upwards of 2 lbs. of fruit, and 
others were ripening from twelve to twenty fruits, weighing as many 
ounces. One of these when girthed measured 2 inches short of a 
quarter of a yard in circumference, and this size has been equalled! 
if not exceeded, in other districts where the soil is better adapted 
to the production of large fruits, some of which have exceeded 
2] ounces in weight. 
The extent of ground under Noble at Girtford is at the outside 
three-quarters of an acre, and at least a third of this, if not nearly 
half, was only planted last season, some as late as September ; but 
most of the plants were inserted between rows of early Peas, then 
when these were removed others were put in the lines they had 
occupied without any manure. The plants grown in that catch- 
crop manner have produced a valuable crop of fruit this year. 
Even some planted in April of the present year ripened good fruit 
three months afterwards, but it would have been better to have 
picked off the flower trusses, in order to strengthen the plants for 
another year, and induce them to produce strong early runners 
this season. Mr. Laxton is fully alive to the importance of propa¬ 
gation from vigorous fruitful plants, and as he has none old and 
exhausted he thought he would see what the April-planted beds 
would do in yielding fruit. 
Mr. Laxton, by his skill as a hybridiser, his patience and 
perseverance, has accomplished much directly, and bis success has 
stimulated others to work on the same lines. Of Peas he has 
raised many, his last, and considering its earliness perhaps the best, 
being Gradus—a first early, with the large pods and peas of the 
later Marrows. He has raised new Roses and the finest of Runner 
Beans, also excellent Potatoes ; but his greatest and most useful 
achievement is this fine commercial Strawberry Noble. Others 
have perhaps profited by his work more than he has. However, 
in two years he has sold 100,000 plants of Noble and a ton of 
fruit, which is some recompense, and after this season’s experi¬ 
ence the demand for plants will be greater than ever, greater 
probably than can be met, and those who wish to secure a supply 
will do well to order early. The variety is not sent out as a 
British Queen in flavour, or anything of that kind ; in richness it 
by no means equals King of the Earlier, but it is good enough for 
those who purchase the fruit, for instead of complaining of its 
quality they are always wanting more. It is a good Strawberry 
without being rich, and evidently both satisfies the public eye and 
palate, and is bound to become a standard variety both for home 
use and market purposes. 
I intended saying something of other of Mr. Laxton’s varieties, 
but cannot at present, and may add that Noble was raised from 
Forman’s Excelsior grown near the American variety Sharpless, 
which is supposed to be the pollen parent, but on this matter the 
raiser cannot speak with accuracy, and he has done too much to 
prefer a doubtful claim. Strong evidence of the origin is, however, 
furnished by the foliage of Sharpless. He has a number of 
varieties of which there is no doubt of the parentage. Several 
have ripened for the first time this year, but another season is 
requisite for determining their distinctness and value. Some 
are of great promise, earlier than Noble and King of the Earlies, 
and rich in quality. On the evening of my visit to Girtford 
Mr. Barron came down to examine the seedlings; and I am 
glad he did, for I have in him a court of appeal in case I 
may be suspected of speaking too highly of Noble at home. It 
would not be easy to do that, and my cool-headed friend was 
for once, I think, taken by surprise, and his verdict was repeated 
after inspecting the beds and seeing the huge fruits packed 1 
for market—“I could not have believed if I had not seen.”— 
J. Wright. _ 
It is always risky to speak positively about Strawberries, for 
they are so peculiar in their likings and dislikings as to soil that 
a variety which succeeds well in some places is useless in others. I* 
can quite agree with “ A Herefordshire Incumbent ” as to the hardi¬ 
ness, size, earliness, and noble appearance of this Strawberry ; but 
with me the flesh has been woolly, and the taste insipid, if one may 
make use of what seems a contradiction. I had hoped before I 
tasted it that we had indeed gained a grand early Strawberry, but. 
King of the Earlies must still wield the sceptre as far as my garden 1 
is concerned, where it has fruited well and early, and has proved' 
itself to be a valuable fruit.—D., Deal. 
“A Herefordshire Incumbent" asks in your last issue fov 
any experience as to this fine new Strawberry. 
Mr. Jame3 Babb, nurseryman, Solihull, obtained a supply of 
plants of this and Mr. Laxton’s other new varieties, King of the 
Earlies and Jubilee, when first sent out, ani the plants fruited the 
following summer. Noble was so early and so good that Mr. 
Bubb planted an additional large breadth of it. These young 
plants are now giving a heavy crop of fine fruit from runners planted 
only last summer, and I send you a few fruits to give some idea- 
of what Noble is in the Birmingham district. It is the coming 
Strawberry for earliness, productiveness, and generally goad 
qualities. Mr. Bubb grows a considerable breadth of Strawberries 
for his home trade, and has hitherto depended upon Garibaldi for 
his earliest crop, but Noble is several days ahead of it in ripening. 
Other varieties grown are Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury, James 
Veitcb, and President. From the experience gamed at Solihull 
Noble is fully a week earlier than King of the Earlies, and the. 
latter is about as early as Garibaldi. Yearling plants of Noble are, 
giving an average of 2 lbs. each ; the fruit is of large size, solid, and 
travels well, and the flesh is a little coloured throughout, juicy 
and tender in the mouth. When quite ripe the flavour leaves little, 
to be desired. Evesham in Worcestershire is a great market 
garden district, and the Birmingham people look for the earliest 
Strawberries generally from that district, and they are as a rule a 
fortnight earlier than about Birmingham ; but Mr. Bubb gathered 
ripe fruits of Noble three days before the first consignment of 
Strawberries arrived in the Birmingham market from Evesham,, 
and these were not “ Nobles.” 
Noble will become a most popular Strawberry for early work, 
and I think also for forcing purposes when it has a fair trial in that 
way. For pot work it has size, colour, productiveness, evenness of 
size, and firmness in its favour. Jubilee will most probably come 
to the front as a valuable late kind.—W. D. S. 
[The fruits are very fine and arrived in excellent condition.] 
BREEDER TULIPS. 
To very many who are interested in flowers the terms “ breeder ,r 
and “ broken,” as applied to the florists’ Tulip, are very imperfectly 
understood. There is this curious physiological fact about the 
Tulip, that if seed be taken from a fine feathered or a fine flamed 
flower, the seedlings, when they bloom, almost invariably take 
the self or breeder form. Actually they are self flowers, but they 
were never regarded as seifs by the Tulip growers of old, who 
had five classes of Tulips—bizarres, bybloemens, roses, seifs, and 
breeders ; but the seifs were confined to two colours only, white 
and yellow. It is not improbable that some of the fine self- 
coloured late Tulips grown for cutting for market by Mr. J. Walker 
of Whitton, and others, may have originated as seifs from some of 
the fine florists’ varieties. 
I have said that almost invariably the seedling Tulip takes the 
breeder form, but it does occasionally happen, as in the case of 
Mrs. Jackson (feathered bybloemen), that the flower skips the 
breeder stage, and develope3 into a perfectly rectified Tulip at the 
first time of blooming ; the breeder stage is therefore an inter¬ 
mediate, not a final one, though the plants may keep to it for a 
