Fertilization of the Strawberry. 59 



opinion that the variety furnishing the pollen did impart its own charactei-- 

 istics. There were on exhibition Crescents that had been fertilized by about 

 a dozen varieties, and there was considerable difference in the appearance, 

 but there was also a marked difference between those grown by different 

 growers but fertilized with the same. Here would be a plate of Crescents of 

 large size, some inchned to Coxcomb shape. I inquired what variety was 

 used as a fertilizer. " Why, the Sharpless, of course ; can't you see the resem- 

 blance ? and here, taste one. Sharpless in flavor, ain't it? " " Yes," I reply, 

 " that tastes and looks like a Sharpless." I cross the hall and find on the 

 table another plate, in appearance just like the other. " Now," I thought, '• if 

 these were fertilized by Sharpless there may be something in this new the- 

 ory; " but the grower informed me that the Crystal City furnished the pol- 

 len, and if I remember right, Mr. President, I saw at four of your packing 

 houses CresceLits that had been fertilized with as many different varieties, 

 and there was no perceptible difference in them. 



As proof of this theory we are cited to the fact that Indian corn will mix; 

 so it will, and exactly in the same manner as the strawberry, through the 

 seed; but the seed is not the fruit. The pulp of the strawberry bears the 

 same relation to the seed as the cob does to the kernels or seed of the corn ; 

 each is what nature intended, a receptacle for the seed. A row of sweet 

 corn planted in a field of ordinary corn, if in tassel at the same time, would 

 probably receive the greater part of the pollen, necessary to fructification, 

 from the field corn, for the reason that the stamens are located at a distancd 

 from the pistils, the wind carries the pollen away and brings the pollen from 

 other plants to this row, hence the corn is changed but the receptacle re- 

 mains the same. The ear may be larger because the grains are larger, but 

 the same number of rows and the same number of grains in each row as 

 there would have been had there been no field corn within a hundred miles 

 of it. If an eight-rowed variety, not an ear will be found on that row with 

 more, though all the rest of the field may have fourteen or sixteen. It 

 must be so, for a seed or grain was formed in embryo at the base of each 

 pistil or silk without regard to the variety growing around it, and no one 

 would claim that the field corn could have any influence upon this row be- 

 fore the silk and tassel were visible, and certainly nature will not then add 

 more silks to the one to accommodate the other; neither will the cob be 

 changed in color, and I have no doubt that the flavor would be unchanged, 

 though I have never eaten many cobs and could not be positive about that. 



It is also claimed that melons, squashes and cucumbers will so mix and 

 mingle in the process of cross-fertilization, that squashes will be found upon 

 cucumber vines and cucumbers upon melon vines; but they have never 

 grown in that manner with me. I planted the past season cucumbers 

 in my Japan melon patch, and melons among my cucumbers, and in gather- 

 ing cucumbers for pickles I found it was a waste of time to look for them 

 on the melon vines, and I was not able to detect any cucumber flavor in the 

 melons. Now, I have no doubt that the character of the seed was changed 



