92 On the Culture of some New Varieties of Strawberries. Wood Strawberry. This old variety has excellent properties if well cultivated, a greater crop may be obtained from the same space, than of any other kind: the period of its ripening is of long duration: it may be cultivated with as little labor, and it will produce well for three successive years, on beds running into mats.-With this, as with all other fruits, the red is of higher flavor than the white. Alpine. This old variety may be managed very similarly to the Wood: it has been sometimes recommended to cultivate it by seed, as a preferable mode to using the runners; but it is believed without much reason. I once attempted it with the White Alpine without runners; the seed, thought to be very choice, was received from the Horticultural Society of Paris. The plants were brought forward in a frame, and, at a proper period, they were transplanted: the stools enlarge themselves by offsets, and, like all this variety, it continued bearing till into autumn. Its extremely long and slender fruit had nothing peculiar in its flavor, nor did it seem to be worthy of cultivation, farther than as a matter of variety. It is desirable, in a private garden, to make a new bed annually, which will enable the cultivator to turn in an old one at the same time, and still keep up a succession; as the strawberry is a great exhauster of the soil, the ground occupied by the old bed should be appropriated to some other crop. Some distinguished cultivators have recommended burning the vines; in the spring, they put on a covering of dry' straw, an inch in thickness, and set on fire different portions of the same bed at three different periods. It is said to lengthen out the succession of the crop, and that the product is much larger. I have had no experience in this practice. The results of the exertions which have been made in this vicinity, within a few years, to improve the cultivation of this fruit, are very apparent, as seen in the increased quantities which the market of the metropolis affords, as well as in the introduction from England, of those large and splendid varieties, which, till very recently, were unknown, even in that country; and when it is recollected that the English catalogues now contain over one hundred distinct varieties, and that they are constantly increasing, and that such are the facilities with which new and valuable fruits are now obtained from abroad, it may reasonably be expected that the number of choice varieties will not only be augmented, but that the period is not distant, when a fruit, which is as universally a favorite as it is simple and harmless in the use, will be produced in quantities more commensurate with the wants of the community. Dorchester, Feb. 15, 1836. E. VOSE. ART. III. Observations on the Camellia, and its Varieties, with some Account of its Introduction into Great Britain and this Country. By M. P. WILDER. (Continued from p. 22.) 15. Caméllia japónica imbricata. Hort. Soc. Trans. Crimson Shell, or Imbricated Japanese Camellia. This variety was introduced into England in 1824, from China, and is not surpassed by any that have ever been imported from that country. The drawing in Chandler and Booth's Illustrations of the camellia, represent it as a beautiful crimson color, and every petal cupped or imbricated, while that of the Botanical Register figures it as a pink, or delicate rose color, blotched and spotted with white; both descriptions are, however, correct, it having flowered with me according to the former, and at Col. T. H. Perkins's, corresponding with the latter. This anomaly is accounted for, as in other camellias, by their sporting. The foliage of this variety is so peculiar that it cannot be mistaken for another; being larger, of a dark glossy green, and much recurved or undulated. 16. Caméllia japónica exímia. Catalogue of the Camellias of Bollwiller. This desirable camellia may justly be classed with those of first rate excellence. The flowers are of a most lovely rose color, from three and a half to four and a half inches in diameter. The outer petals are arranged in three distinct rows, and are heart-shaped, or divided at the edge; the inner ones are smaller, and faintly striped, filling the centre with a loose and graceful tuft, after the style of the waratah. Of its origin I am unacquainted: the plant I have was received of the brothers Baumann, of Bollwiller, in whose collection only, have I heard of it. 17. Caméllia japónica exímia. Chandler & Booth's Ill. Choice Japanese Camellia. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this variety: the formation of the flower is almost precisely like the double white, the size larger, and of a deep rose crimson color. The petals are very numerous, and regularly arranged over each other in concentric circles to the centre. This camellia was raised from seed of the waratah, by the Messrs. Chandler, in 1819, and brought to notice in 1830, and has been, until the present time, a very costly variety. The foliage of the present subject and the French exímia are so similar, that even a careful observer would take them for one and the same variety. 18. Caméllia japónica élegans. Chandler & Booth's Ill. Chandler's Elegant Japanese Camellia. For this variety, also, we are indebted to the Messrs. Chandler, who raised it from seed of the waratah. made its first appearance about 1830, and has been in high reputation ever since. The flower is of a very clear vivid rose color. The exterior petals are quite large and expanded; the inner ones smaller, filling the centre, and making a somewhat irregular, but beautiful formed flower. No collection should be without it. 19. Caméllia japónica élegans. Catalogue of the Camellias of Bollwiller. A semi-double pink, or red flower, of only middling or ordinary character. 20. Caméllia japónica corállina. Chandler & Booth's Ill. Coral-colored Japanese Camellia. This is another seedling produced by the Messrs. Chandler. The flowers are not large, but exceeding neat in their formation; they are of a deep rich crimson color, inclining to a purple from the darkness of its hue, and frequently a little spotted with white. The petals are not numerous, the exterior ones being large, and the inner ones small, interspersed with a few of the stamens. Its parent was the waratah, and was first brought into public notice about 1825. 21. Caméllia japónica corállina. Catalogue of the Camellias of Bollwiller. This camellia is in no way inferior to the English corállina; the color of the flower is however different, this being a bright rose. The guard petals are in two or three rows, and bell-shaped, the inner ones smaller and irregular, forming a loose cone in the centre. It is a free growing variety, and an abundant bloomer. 22. Caméllia japónica Chandlèri. Chandler & Booth's Ill. Mr. Chandler's Japanese Camellia. This beautiful variety was also raised by the Messrs. Chandler, and whose name it bears. The color of the flower is a very brilliant crimson, and generally splashed with white; it is of middling size, about three and a half inches in diameter, and of the waratah formation; there are three or four rows of large crown petals, and the centre of the flower is filled with a compact mass of smaller ones. The plant is of very vigorous growth, the foliage large and flat, and is much inclined to sport. It is not unfrequent to notice on the same plant, a plain crimson flower, and others that are more or less spotted with white. 23. Caméllia japónica spléndens. Chandler & Booth's Illus. Coccinea. Lodd. Bot. Cabinet. Coccinea of the French. This is little more than a semi-double variety; but the perfectly neat arrangement of its petals make it a very showy and desirable sort. The color of the flower is a bright crimson, and is composed of about fifteen large round and a few small petals. It was raised by Mr. Alnutt, and is frequently called Alnutt's splendens. 24. Caméllia japónica Róssi. Loudon's Hortus Britannicus. Mr. Ross's Camellia. I have observed, in another place [Vol. I, p. 15], that this was the first seedling camellia exhibited at the London Horticultural Society. It was raissd by Mr. Ross, of Stoke Newington, in 1824, and for which he received a medal. The flowers are above the ordinary size, of a brilliant crimson color; the outer petals being in three rows, the inner ones filling the centre in a cluster, and sometimes faintly striped with white. It is said, in the Illustrations of Camellias, to bear a strong resemblance in the shape of the flower to the English C. élegans. 25. Caméllia japónica punctàta. Botanical Register. Gray's Invincible of some collections. Punctata plena of the French catalogues. This and the two following varieties were produced from seed, by Mr. Press, of Hornsey, England; and made their first appearance about 1827. They are the offspring of the semi-double red, crossed by the single white, and were all contained in the same capsule. The flower is of medium size, the formation like the pompone, but more compact and beautiful. It is of a light blush or flesh color, thickly striped and spotted with pink; the appearance not unlike what it would be were it sprinkled with red ink. The plant is of free growth, the foliage a very dark green, blooms freely, and seldom if ever produces a bad or inferior flower. 26. Caméllia japónica eclipsis. Chandler & Booth's Ill. Regina gallicarum of the French. The formation and style of this flower is much like the foregoing, except that the ground color of this is a pure white, and faintly striped, but not so much spotted with pink. It is a free grower, but not so free a bloomer as punctata. The foliage is of a pale yellowish green, and by this is easily distinguished from most other varieties. 27. Caméllia japónica Rosa múndi. Loudon's Hort. Brit. Rose of the World. Venusta of some collections. The foliage of Ròsa múndi is similar to punctàta, its twin brother, the colors of the flower being the same, but more blended and indistinct; the size smaller, and the form not so good. It has one or two rows of guard petals and a waratah centre. It is, however, a desirable kind. 28. Caméllia japónica Elphinstòni. Chand. & Booth's Ill. This English seedling was raised by Mr. Joseph Knight, King's Road, Chelsea, England, some years since. The habit of the plant is erect and thrifty, the foliage thin, flexible, dark green, and shining. The flower is of a rosy crimson color, and blotched with white, bearing a strong resemblance to C. Chandlèri, and quite as beautiful. 29. Caméllia japónica, anemoneflòra álba. Chan. & Booth's Il. White Waratah Camellia. This camellia is another of the seedlings produced by the Messrs. Chandler. Its parent was Pompònia, and which it resembles, both in color and form. The flower is, however, larger, and usually with one or more lines or splashes of pink, and has sometimes a whole petal of the same color. The foliage is very dark and shining, regularly recurved, deeply veined, and bears a strong resemblance to the celebrated C. Colvillii. Dorchester, Jan. 1836. Yours, M. P. WILDEr. (To be continued.) ART. IV. Descriptive Notice of J. W. Knevels Esq.'s Collection of Exotic Plants at Newburgh, N. Y. By A. J. D. THE truly superb collection, now in possession of this gentleman, is the largest amateur collection in the State of New York, and, considered with regard to its richness in tropical plants and the individual beauty of many of its specimens, we do not hesitate to pronounce it unsurpassed in the Union. All the fine exotics formerly belonging to J. B. Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia, and noticed in this Magazine (Vol. I, p. 165), were purchased by Mr. Knevels, and form |