In the April number of the last volume, Mr. Saul in speaking upon strawberries, assorts that the foreign varieties succeed better in the vicinity of Washington City, than our American sorts.

That "Doctors will differ" is an old saying, and one that holds good in almost every profession. From my own observations I am compelled to differ with Mr. Saul, that the English varieties are superior or even equal to the leading American varieties, even in the "District of Columbia".

To make any fruit profitable for market there are several things requisite, fine flavor, good size and appearance, hardiness, regular and good crops with the least labor, and the nearest we can have all these qualities combined in one fruit, the more profitable it is. Now how will strawberries compare with this standard.

For some years past the Alice Maud, has been grown more extensively for the Washington Market than any other variety, Hovey's Seedling excepted, and how does it compare with the "little scarlet;" it burns out in summer, freezes out in winter, the fruit is deficient in color and flavor and has nothing to recommend it but its size, and in very favorable seasons bearing a good crop of fruit. I have frequently seen them selling for twenty cents a quart, when Hovey's would be bringing fifty cents.

As for the Victoria and Kitley's Goliath, they may have done well in 1857. I saw them the last season a perfect failure, while Hovey's Seedling, Prince's Magnate, McAvoy's Superior, and several other American varieties aside of them were loaded with magnificent fruit.

Dr. J. H. Bayne, a horticulturist of high standing and perhaps the most extensive orchardist and strawberry grower in the neighborhood of Washington, has tried several hundred foreign varieties, and that too under the most favorable circumstances, and he has thrown them all away as worthless for our climate, not finding one that would compete with our best natives.

There is no doubt that with equal cultivation our leading American strawberries will throw every foreign variety far in the back ground as a profit-able market fruit. Such has been the experience of Dr. Bayne, and if I am not mistaken, such is the opinion of Mr. Cammack, and nearly every straw-j, berry grower in the neighborhood of Washington City.