240 
TUE FLORIST. 
and I would strongly urge growers to discontinue it. It is not possible 
to judge confidently the merits of yearlings. 
A Raiser op Seedlings. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
July 19.—The Strawberry season, with the exception of the Alpines, 
is now over here. My friend, Mr. May, of the National Provincial 
Bank, at Blandford, came with a noble basket of Queens, to add to my 
Trollop's Victoria, Alpines, Bicton White Pine, and Belle Bordelaise ; 
and with these we yesterday finished the season, which has been the 
most abundant that I can remember. The flavour of Strawberries has 
been better than last year ; but still it has not been so good as in a dry 
West Indian summer. I have destroyed a great many English and 
Foreign Strawberry plants, heavy croppers, as not distinctive or better 
than those we have already. I will mention no names, as, in other 
situations, where the sun rises and shines all day on the bed, the 
flavour may be better than in my garden, which slopes from the 
rising sun. With regard to flavour, 1 have eaten nothing so rich and 
good as Filbert Pine, tasted in Mr. May’s garden. Lest 1 forget it, let 
me say (and Mr. John Keynes, I doubt not, will bear witness to my 
words) that the plants and crops of such sorts as are grown by Mr. 
May were this year such as would be equalled by few, and probably 
surpassed by none. Last year I took my friend, Mr. Gloede, who, I 
regret, was not able to come this year to see me, to review them ; and, 
splendid as the crops were then, I fancy they were still better this year. 
The crops of the Queen, Filbert Pine, Nimrod, Eleanor, Trollop’s 
Victoria (it colours in his garden as deep as Eugene Appert), Cinque- 
folia, a rich, fine, and good Strawberry, but dwarf-habited and shabby 
in foliage, were'very heavy. If any of your readers should travel 
through Blandford in the Strawberry season, I am sure my distin¬ 
guished brother Fragrarian would be gratified by a call, and I am still 
more sure the visitor would be gratified. I saw, in his garden, and 
tasted some fine rich berries of Eliza Vilmorin, raised from the Queen, 
Oscar, Eugenie, and a very rich and good seedling of his own, which I 
hope he will introduce to you some day as the “ May King.” It is of 
the Filbert Pine flavour and quality. I believe he found the seedling 
in his Raspberry bed. 
As regards my own Strawberries, I must appeal to the tastes of the 
24 gentlemen who dined here on the 5th of July. We had 13 dishes, 
all picked fruit. The finest for size and beauty, and uniformity of 
growth, were the Eleanors; and the best-flavoured were Rivers’ Eliza, 
and Magnum Bonum, like, but hardier than the Queen in wet valleys. 
However, as regards the Queen, where she likes the soil, she cares for 
nothing else. My noble plants in another garden (once half-dead here) 
are as high as a man’s knees, dark, and unfreckled in foliage, and have 
borne the noblest fruit. The aspect is severe N.E. 
The Strawberries that I recommend are much the same as last year’s ; 
1. Ilaulhois, The Black Hautbois, small, but the muskiest and 
