Mr. Saul asks if I ever saw Mr. Slater, or Mr. Cammack, sell Alice Maud at twenty cents per quart. I have seen the first-named gentlemen sell them for that and less. Mr. Cammack, I believe, does not raise the Alice .Maud. I am also cognizant that Mr. Slater frequently gets a dollar per quart for his first berries. But is Mr. Saul aware that Dr. Bayne gets at the same time as much and even more for his strawberries? and has Mr. Saul ever known Dr. Baynes' strawberries to sell for less than Mr. Slater's, or Mr. Cammack's? Their stands in the market are contiguous, which affords a fine opportunity to compare prices; and does not Mr. Cammack get as much for his Hovey's Seedlings as he does for his other varieties? if not, why is it he cultivates them.

I am surprised that Mr. Saul should speak so lightly of the experience of Dr. Bayne, a gentleman who has devoted a lifetime to the cultivation of fruit, and who might properly be called the pioneer of horticulture, not only around Washington, but of southern Maryland. Dr. Bayne is not merely a theorist, as Mr. Saul would infer, but he puts theory to practice, the only true way to come to correct conclusions upon any subject. In reference to Dr. Bayne's failure with foreign strawberries, I will merely state that his farm contains some three hundred acres, with almost every variety of soil, and with deep trenching, high manuring, and thorough after cultivation; upon soils of almost every grade, from a stiff clay to an alluvial soil two or three feet deep; and if they would not succeed under these circumstances, is it not natural to conclude they at least won't suit our climate unless they have a very peculiar soil to luxuriate in.

Mr. Saul wishes to know "Who are nearly every strawberry grower in the neighborhood of Washington city;" not only Dr. Bayne and myself, as Mr. Saul would infer, but numbers of others, who, like Mr. Saul's friends, are hard-fisted tillers of the soil, whose object is to turn every acre of their land to the best advantage; men who have tried foreign varieties and have thrown them aside as unprofitable. A few of them I will name, and if Mr. Saul takes the trouble to make inquiries he will find the statements I make are correct. Mr. Douglas, near the Eastern Branch, cultivates several acres in strawberries, principally Hovey's Seedling; he raises heavy crops of fine fruit which he does not even find necessary to send to market, as his fruit is engaged before it is ripe. Mr. Douglas tells me he has cultivated Victoria, Kitley's Goliath, and nearly all the English varieties which have come to us with high-sounding names, and out of the whole he considers none of them worth having except the Alice Maud, and that cannot always be relied on. Mr. Bell, near Bladensburg, cultivates half an acre of Hovey's Seedling; he picked this season 1500 quarts.

The Messrs. Febrey, of Alexandria co., Va., cultivate about seven acres; they have just closed up their crop for the season, having picked 20,000 quarts. Besides the gentlemen named, there are many others who raise heavy crops of strawberries, which, in point of size and appearance, compare favorably with any strawberries in the market, and sell for as good prices; yet they were raised for less than half the expense and labor which Mr. Saul says is necessary to raise a crop of English strawberries.

As to my making use of Mr. Cammack's name, I drew my conclusions from a conversation which several gentlemen had in the horticultural fair room a year ago. Br. Bayne remarked that he would give $100 for a dozen plants of a better strawberry than Hovey's Seedling, to which Mr. Cam-mack replied, "I will give $200;" that, and the fact that Mr. Cammack cultivates Hovey's Seedling extensively, more so, I believe, than all other varieties together, induced me to make the assertion which I did. As to my not being personally acquainted with Mr. Cammack, it may be ignorance in me, but it certainly is the first I was aware of its being a breach of etiquette to make use of a gentleman's name in the general way in which I made use of Mr. Cammack's. It certainly was not my intention to misrepresent him.

A few words in reference to the Washington Horticultural Society. Mr. Saul is aware that there is at least one week's difference in the ripening of fruit between the northern and southern sides of the city. Now, had the exhibition a year ago been held at the time first named, I am confident the prizes would have been reversed; but the exhibition was postponed one week, which brought it in the very nick of time for Mr. Saul, Mr. Cammack, and other gentlemen living on that side of the city, to display their strawberries to the best advantage. And how were the prizes awarded? Mr. Cammack took the first prize, and Br. Bayne (although laboring under the disadvantage of its being a week too late for him) took the second prize, over all other competitors, including Mr. Saul himself.

Mr. Saul wishes to know why it is that I have never appeared in competition at any of the horticultural exhibitions. It has been from the fact that until lately I have been so situated I could not pay that attention to strawberries that I would have wished. But Mr. Saul has frequently exhibited his strawberries, and I have yet to hear of his premiums.

I do not consider it a true criterion that any fruit will be profitable for market purposes, merely from the fact that it does well for one or even two seasons under the careful nursing of an amateur gardener. I will again state that with equal cultivation, our leading American strawberries will throw every foreign variety far in the background as a profitable market fruit; and if I am not mistaken such is the opinion of nearly every strawberry-grower in the neighborhood of Washington city, with the exception of a few, who, like Mr. Saul, are "joined to their idols".

The following varieties can be relied on in this vicinity as profitablefor market: Hovey's Seedling, Prince's Scarlet, Magnate, McAvoy's Superior, and Bayne's Favorite; the last is a strawberry cultivated for some years by Br. Bayne, which only requires to be generally known to become popular. Wilson's Albany has done remarkably well this season wherever it has been tried, but will require another season's trial to establish its reputation.