One of our correspondents tells us that he has this year grown an abundance of the finest plums on trees that heretofore have always had their fruit stung by the curculio, and that while his trees have been loaded, his neighbors, only a few yards distant, have lost their entire crop. His practice for success is to have ready a heap of refuse gas lime, which every other day he manages by a cup on end of a stick or otherwise to scatter in, on, and among the foliage and branches of the trees while yet they are wet with the dew. The gas lime adhering to leaf, fruit, and branch seems to deter the insect from his labor of life, and leave the fruit crop to mature for the benefit of the land-owner.

Forest Nurseey Fairview, Todd Co., Ky., i August 16, '67.

Messrs. Editors Horticulturist : Gentlemen - I can not regard your strictures, etc., on the Charles Downing Strawberry, and its originator, in the August number of the Horticulturist, in any other light than that of unkindness. Why require that this berry shall be tested everywhere before sending out?. Has this course been pursued toward any other strawberry ? Is it expected that any variety of this fruit will succeed in all the States and sections? The variety (Charles Downing) has fruited six seasons in the hands of its originator; and two seasons in the hands of disinterested parties in other parts of the country. I think I have the right to expect the same courtesy exercised toward me that is shown to other patrons of your Journal. When and where did you call on any other originator of fruit to have it tested everywhere before offering it for sale? But I will leave the subject for the present for your further consideration. Very respectfully,

J. S. Downer.

[We confess a little suprise at the tone of Mr. Downer's communication above. We wrote our stricture, not against the strawberry, but as implicating with it the name of a horticulturist whose good works are known everywhere and whose bad traits have never been discovered, and as we do know that no strawberry yet generally known is free in all sections from faults, we felt that the name of Charles Downing should be used only when as connected with all that was desirable in fruit culture. We have but a few men in horticulture, if we must say it, as well as in other pursuits of life, who do not make the almighty dollar superior to their judgment and better feelings, and the names of those few we choose, so far as we can, to keep inviolate.

We know not what this strawberry may proVe around the country. It may sustain the character of the name given it, and we shall rejoice if it does as much as any other one; but when the name of so valuable a man to the horticultural world is appended to a fruit, we think more care than usual should be given to testing its actual value everywhere. We have a private note from Mr. Downing in which he says he objected to the name until the kind had been more generally tested, and we believe every true horticulturist in the United States will join us in what we have said. You, Mr. Downer, have produced some good fruits; you had a right to give your own name to what you pleased, but the name of such a man as Charles Downing belongs to us all, and neither you or any other man has a right to attach it to any fancy of your own without the full and free consent of the owner.]

Strawberries that have been planted late should be covered as soon as the ground freezes, using either straw or cornstalks, or anything that will shield them from the freezing and thawing in winter, and yet not pack down upon and smother the plants.

Blackberries and Raspberries may be planted this fall just as successfully as in spring, and if put in during this month they will form new fibrous roots, and next year make far more vigorous growth than if the planting be left until spring. After they are planted, run the plow along and earth up to them, leaving a dead farrow between each row, to act as a drain for the water, and prevent the frost throwing the plants out. Covering the whole plant four or five inches will not hurt it, provided the drainage is kept open and the covering be removed as soon as the frost is out of the ground in spring.

Cuttings of grape, gooseberry, currant, etc., may be put in this month, in the open ground. Our experience has resulted in more uniform success from fall than spring-planted cuttings.