Aberdeen.

Rose Strawberry.

Scotch Scarlet.

Aberdeen Seedling.

Prolific Pine.

Fruit large, conical and pointed, with a very short neck, dark red, hairy; the early fruits assume a cockscomb shape where the plants are luxuriant. Seeds yellow, deeply embedded, between ridged intervals. Flesh firm, pale scarlet, with a core; the flavour is not rich, it is however agreeable, and best when fully ripe. It is much admired by many, and even thought by some superior to the Old Scarlet.

59. SCONE SCARLET. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 170. Fruit of a moderate size, round, without a neck, of a light shining red on the upper side, paler on the other, hairy. Seeds dark brown, deeply embedded, with round intervals. Flesh firm, pale pink; the flavour sharp, with abundance of acid.

It is a great bearer, ripening late, and contains more acid than any other known strawberry.

60. SIR JOSEPH BANKS'S SCARLET. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 161.

New Scarlet. Ib.

Fruit of moderate size, oblong, with a neck, the apex blunt, of a bright scarlet. Seeds nearly prominent, with very flat intervals. Flesh bright scarlet, firm, and high-flavoured. This Strawberry is very closely allied with the Austrian Scarlet, with which it has probably sometimes been confounded, it ripens nearly at the same time, and though not so prolific, yet has a superior flavour.

61. VERNON'S SCARLET. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 174.

White's Scarlet. Ib.

Fruit middle-sized, round, dark red, rather hairy Seeds slightly embedded, with flat intervals. Flesh

K K

pale vermilion, white in the centre, solid, and wellflavoured.

A good bearer, and ripens early.

62. WILMOT'S LATE SCArlet. Vol. iii. p. 115.

Hort. Trans.

Fruit very large, bluntly conical, irregularly shaped,

of a shining light red.

with ridged intervals.

Seeds small, deeply embedded,

centre; flavour moderate.

Flesh white, hollow in the

It is a good bearer, ripening late enough to succeed the Old Scarlet, and producing its berries in succession, so as to afford a continued supply; to be tasted in perfection, it should be eaten as soon as gathered.

Note.-In mentioning the size of fruit, it is to be understood that the comparison is only made between those belonging to each particular class, and not to those of any other.

When it is stated that the fruit of the variety under description has a core, the idea intended to be conveyed is, that the core readily separates, adhering to the calyx when the receptacle is removed.

Cultivation.

As early in the summer as the young runners of strawberries have taken root, they should be taken up and planted out in nursery beds, at a distance of five or six inches from each other. These, in the course of the summer and autumn, will make fine, large, well-rooted plants, and many of the kinds will be sufficiently strong to produce fruit the following summer.

In preparing the ground for the reception of these plants, it should be trenched two spades deep (twenty inches), with a quantity of half-rotten dung mixed with the first spit. In planting them out, the most economical method perhaps will be, to plant in beds of four rows each, with intervals of two and a half or two feet between the beds, according to the sorts to be planted.

The strongest growers, such as Wilmot's Superb, and all the varieties of the third Class, may be fifteen inches from row to row, and fifteen inches between each plant; the next strongest may have the rows fifteen inches apart, and the plants twelve inches; the third size, comprising all those of the sixth and seventh Classes, may have the rows twelve inches apart, and the plants twelve inches; the fourth size, those of Class I. and V., may have the rows twelve inches apart, and the plants nine inches.

During the first year, all the runners should be cut off the plants some time before they have taken root, which will give the stool plants full possession of the soil. Such sorts as show fruit should have the ground covered, when coming into blossom, with either short grass or with straw, which will keep the blossoms clean, and the fruit free from soil when ripe; besides, the surface of the ground will be protected from the scorching rays of the sun, and in case of heavy showers the rain will thus be prevented from running off. As soon

as the fruit is gathered, however, this covering should be removed, and the ground kept clean by the hoe. In the winter, and not before, as the plants will not have finished their growth, the leaves must be cut off, and the spaces among the plants, as well as the alleys, dug carefully over, so as not to injure their roots: this will be best done with a three-pronged fork, instead of the spade. The second summer, the plants will bear their best crop and finest fruit; the beds and outside of the alleys should be covered with mown grass or with straw, as before, three or four inches thick: by this method I have found the fruit not only more abundant, but much finer than by any other.

In cultivating the Hautbois Strawberry, plants from bad collections produce a number of what some gardeners call male or sterile plants; and many are of opinion, that because they are males, it is necessary they should be preserved in their beds, in order to fertilise the others; and some have gone so far as to plant them with a rather numerous regularity for this purpose. The consequence has been, that their beds have proved more fertile in leaves than in fruit, and the stock has at length been condemned as bad; whereas its sterility has proceeded from those favourite males, the stools of which having no crop of fruit to support always produce a superabundance of runners, which being also much stronger than the fertile ones have consequently overrun and overpowered them, and literally annihilated the only ones capable of producing fruit.

Having had a parcel of Hautbois plants given to me some years ago, I planted them out, and suspecting there were many sterile plants among them, I did not suffer a runner to remain the first year. The second year, five plants out of six proved to be so, which I immediately destroyed; and as soon as the runners of the fertile ones became rooted, I planted out the bed afresh:

these produced me one of the most fertile crops I ever saw, and the runners from them produced their successive crops the same.

I selected a few of the finest of the first berries of those which bore the first year, and sowed the seeds; these produced, as might be expected, both fertile and sterile plants, the latter of which I again destroyed, and saved a few only of those which produced the finest fruit, and of similar size, figure, and quality; the runners from these I planted out as before, and they produced me a perfect crop of fruit, without a single sterile plant being found among them: thus was my first stock of prolific Hautbois obtained.

After stating thus much relative to this class of Strawberries, it can hardly be necessary for me to point out the necessity of closely examining all new-made beds of them, and of entirely extirpating those worse than useless sterile plants.

Alpine Strawberries have been recommended by some to be always raised from seed. I have raised many this way, and I have found myself disappointed, in having a portion of them produce inferior fruit to those from which the seeds were obtained. Thus a mixture of Alpines is the result, which in my opinion is no way desirable, as in all cases a crop of the best fruit can never be equalled by a mixture of the best with inferior varieties.

In propagating the Alpine Strawberry by the runners from one single plant, all its offspring must be the same; it therefore becomes necessary to select the very finest kind for the purpose; the fruit large, broad at its base, and sharply conical.

If the runners are planted out in August or the beginning of September, the beds will be covered with runners by the spring; these should not be removed, as directed for the other classes, because the first and