At page 72 of current volume are some very interesting notes upon the fruits of 1857, by Mr. W. C. Strong. He says: "That any English variety is desirable for our climate, is a question yet to be proved." However applicable this opinion may be to Massachusetts, it will not hold good in the District of Columbia.

Mr. John Slater, of Alexandria, Va., an intelligent and experienced market gardener, cultivates, and has cultivated for years, none but English strawberries, to which he has, this season, added one French variety. To use his own words: " I have kicked every other sort out of my garden;" and bear in mind, this was not without first testing them. " They were found wanting," and then discarded. He tests every native or foreign sort of promise; now what is the result? Any person interested in the matter can have ocular demonstrations in our market during the season of this fruit His crops are not only abundant, but the fruit is of the largest size and highest flavor, in which these varieties are known to excel. When other growers, with their little, scarlet sorts, get from six to twelve cents per quart for strawberries, Mr. S. can easily command from twenty-five to fifty cents, and, on their first appearance, a dollar. The varieties are Alice Maud, for a first crop, followed by Victoria and Kitley's Goliath; to these be has now added " Vicom-tesse Hericart de Tbury !"

Mr. W. Cammack, another horticulturist of long standing, cultivates principally English varieties I say "principally," for he grows one (and I believe only one) native variety - Hovey's Seedling; the other sorts the same as Mr. S.; and he is equally renowned for his magnificent crops.

Mr. John Howlett, an excellent florist and gardener, cultivates English straw* berries exclusively. To him is due the introduction and first successful culture of Kitley's Goliath in this neighborhood. From a small bed, a few feet square, he sold $84 worth of strawberries - none for less than fifty cents per quart. Another great advantage of these strawberries is, that from their large size, they can be picked so quickly, and a few will fill the measure. All strawberries do not sell so high in our markets; any quantity of small, acid, scarlet strawberries are disposed of at prices ranging from six to twelve cents per quart.

As a proof of the estimation in which these varieties are held, another market gardener has about two acres of Kitley's Goliath, with others in like proportion.

The question will be naturally asked: How come those varieties to succeed to such perfection with the gardeners here named, whilst they have so signally failed in the hands of others in the vicinity? I answer, good culture. These men know the value of deep trenching, high manuring, and good after care, such as keeping them perfectly clear from grass and weeds through the summer, and the ground loose and broken. Persons not disposed to give such culture, but to depend upon the plough, and, in case of failure of a strawberry crop, to take off a crop of hay or clover, had better, by all means, stick to their scarlets; they are far more satisfactory. By "scarlets" I mean nearly all our native varieties, as few - very few - possess the least trace of a Pine, not excepting the best of American strawberries, Hovey's Seedling. This must be apparent to any person conversant with the original types of our now cultivated strawberries.

I am fully aware that many English varieties are not suited to our climate; others are disposed to burn. The nearer to perfection that a fruit reaches, the greater care and higher culture it requires; it is so with all garden vegetables, with florists' flowers and plants. Neglect the dahlia, rose, hollyhock, or pansy; how soon do the flowers of the three first become single and poor, and the last diminutive in size. Our finest cattle demand the greatest care. Apples are attacked by borers; pears are subject to blight; peaches gum; plums, apricots, and nectarines, are injured by curculios; grapes mildew; corn " fires;" wheat has smut; and our potatoes rot; yet persons are found to cultivate one and ail of them.