302 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 12. 
land under strawberries near Edinburgh does not 
exceed a hundred acres.* Dr. Neill has given, in the 
work referred to, a brief account of the strawberry 
gardens in the vicinity of Edinburgh in the year 1812. 
At Glasgow, strawberries are estimated to occupy only 
one-tenth of the market gardens, which places the con¬ 
sumption of that town considerably behind that of 
Edinburgh, in which, from the market duty paid, the 
annual supply appears to be from 30,000 to 50,000 
Scotch pints.f If* however, we take into account the 
quantities which are consumed in the gardens—a 
favourite resort of parties of the citizens in the straw¬ 
berry season—it is probable that Dr. Neill’s statement, 
in the work already quoted, of from 60,000 to 80,000 
Scotch pints on an average, according to the season, 
may not be exaggerated. 
The strawberry gardens in the immediate vicinity of 
Edinburgh are neither very numerous nor extensive, 
principally on account of the high rent of land; but 
also because most of the fields, and particularly the 
market gardens, have become so saturated with manure 
as to cause them to be more productive of leaves than 
of fruit. The greater number are about Dalkeith, 
Laswade, Roslin, Ratho, and Corstorphine, all of which 
places are within eight miles of Edinburgh. There 
are, however, some considerable strawberry gardens 
beyond this circle, even as far as Haddington, a distance 
of 18 miles. Excepting the large sorts, they are pulled 
without the calyx, and are put into small baskets, each 
containing nominally one Scotch pint. These baskets 
are packed above one another in square hampers, and 
are conveyed to the market on a light carriage or frame¬ 
work, hung on springs. 
The labour of cultivating strawberries, which is 
usually light, becomes incessant in the fruit season, on 
which account the ground employed for this purpose 
round Edinburgh, by one grower, is seldom more than 
six Scotch acres, and in general does not exceed three 
or four. As, however, the cultivation of gooseberries, 
currants, &c., is commonly combined with that of straw¬ 
berries, market gardens are usually more extensive. Of 
these the rent varies from £5 to £ 15 per acre, those 
being cheapest which are farthest from the city. The 
average price of labour per acre, including carriage, &c., 
is less than £5; and the rate of profit, taking a com¬ 
bined average of seasons, is from £35 to £10 per acre. 
Occasionally a much greater sum is obtained. In one 
instance, a gross amount of £120 was made from a 
single acre, planted in equal proportions with the Old 
Scarlet and Roseberry varieties. Greater sums than 
this have been talked of; and it is said that 3100 Scotch 
pints of the Roseberry kind have been gathered from 1J 
acre. The usual rate of production is much below this, 
and in dry seasons very far so indeed. ( Hort . Soc. 
Trans., vi. 512.) 
It is difficult to estimate the extent of land occupied by 
* The Scotch acre is to the English acre nearly in the proportion of 
five to four; the former containing 6084 square yards, the latter 4840. 
t The Scotch pint contains 103 solid inches, and is nearly equal to 
three imperial pints. 
strawberries in the vicinity of London; but Mr. Cuthill, 
a good authority, estimates it at about 100 acres. Mr. 
Myatt has seven acres at Deptford devoted to straw¬ 
berries. 
We now come to our estimate of sorts, and we shall 
only mention those of which we can speak confidently. 
Hooper's Seedling, Keen's Seedling, and Black Prince 
were all ripe the earliest, and on the same day—June 
18th. We prefer the first-named, the berry being hand 
some and better flavoured than either of the others. 
Suainstone Seedling and Kittley's Ooliah were each ripe 
June 27th. Neither of them of superior flavour. Kit- 
ley’s very large. 
Thom's Seedling was ripe June 26th, and is a very 
superior fruit. Berry a flattened cone, deep red, large, 
and excellently flavoured. 
Myatt’s Deptford Pine and Pellvellin’s Compte de 
Paris were ripe June 30th. The Deptford Pine lias a 
large, conical, deep-coloured berry, but its flavour only 
of medium quality. The Compte de Paris is one of the 
very best varieties cultivated. Its berry is the hand¬ 
somest, being globular, bright as if varnished ; pale 
red in colour ; medium size ; and flavour superior. 
Cinquefoil had its first fruit ripe July 7th. This is 
also a very superior fruit. Berries large, flat, and 
irregular; dark-coloured, and flavour excellent. Tt grows 
very low, and has the peculiarity of many of its leaves 
being 5-leafleted, instead of 3-leafleted as usual. Bicton 
Pine was ripe at the same time, and is a large fruit, but 
chiefly desirable as a bright, white, waxy-looking fruit, 
ornamental in the dessert. 
Jackson's Britannia was ripe July 12th. Berry large, 
flat, and irregular, and deep purplish crimson in colour. 
Hollow, and flavour not like that of the strawberry, but 
more like that of the fig. 
FORSYTH MSS. 
Any information relative to our Australian settlements 
is more than ordinarily interesting just now that there 
is a mania for proceeding to their “ Gold Diggings.” 
The information we have to place before our readers 
relates to the veiy earliest days of their settlement as a 
colony, even to their difficulties under their first com 
mander—Governor Phillips. He established the colony 
at Botany Bay in the beginning of the year 1788, and 
left it at the close of 1792. 
“ During the remainder of his life he lived at Bath, on a 
pension of £400 a year. His government was a period of 
great difficulty indeed, as may be supposed in an infant 
settlement formed of such materials, and situated at so 
remote a distance from the parent country; and had it not 
been for what Dr. Lang calls the energy and decision of 
character, tempered with the utmost humanity, which Gover¬ 
nor Phillips uniformly evinced under the most trying cir¬ 
cumstances, it is possible that the colony might have 
perished, or been abandoned. A wealthy and respectable 
inhabitant of Sydney, who arrived in the colony during the 
administration of Governor Phillips, as a free person, men¬ 
tioned that his ration for a long period was only a cob, or 
single head of Indian corn, a day ; and that for three years 
he had lived in the colony in the constant belief that he should 
perish by hunger. The government of such a colony, under 
such circumstances, was indeed most difficult, demanding 
