24 



NOTES ON THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION. 



cultural society, to have a fruit committee, 

 whose duty it should be to examine all new 

 fruits, and report on their quality and bear- 

 ing character ? 



I have said that the English staminate 

 strawberries, (or rather what are erroneous- 

 ly called perfect plants,) are of no value in 

 the United States, except as impregnators 

 to pistillates. I say this, in complaisance 

 to our English gardeners, who now admit 

 their staminates are bad bearers in Ameri- 

 ca, but contend that in England all the 

 blossoms were perfect in both organs. In 

 this, they mistake. In the cool climate of 

 England, staminates may bear better than 

 with us. But what confirms me in my 

 opinion is, that some English gardeners 

 east, who forced the Keen seedling about 

 Boston, assured me that, with them, it bore 

 a full crop. They will not know what a 

 full crop means, till they visit the strawber- 

 ry grounds of Mr. Culbertson, and in a 

 favorable season, see him pick one hundred 

 and twenty bushels in a single day. Mrs. 

 LouDERBACK, who sells large quantities of 

 the fruit, and also preserves it, observed to 

 me, that she saw more strawberries in a 

 single day, for sale in Cincinnati, than she 

 saw in Philadelphia during a season. That 

 she there, for the largest size for preserv- 

 ing, paid fifty cents per quart. It is never 

 safe to speak of the bearing character of 

 what you term perfect plants, from a single 

 year's experience, as the blossoms throw 

 out the pistils some seasons much better 

 than usual. For it is in pistils they are 

 defective. Never in stamens. 



You may, within the next five years, ex- 

 pect a great reduction in the price of New- 

 ark cider, turneps and green corn, (the 

 rudiments of a good deal of champagne 

 sold in this country.) By that time, there 

 will be numerous establishments in our 

 city for the manufacture of champagne 



wine, from the juice of the grape. And it 

 will possess a high character, and command 

 a high price, if we can overcome the im- 

 pression, that no part of the United States 

 is a wine region, and do not follow eastern 

 examples, and also manufacture from cider, 

 turneps and green corn. The cultivation 

 of the grape, is rapidly extending in this 

 vicinity ; and our German vine dressers 

 must exert all their care and skill. If they 

 do not, from present appearances, some of 

 our American grape growers will surpass 

 them in the quantity of wine made to the 

 acre, and its quality. 



Yours, with regard, 



N. LONGWORTH. 



Cincinnati, 0., May 29, 1847. 



Mr. Longworth's letter is interesting to 

 us, mainly because it is more definite than 

 usual, about the classes of strawberries. 



He says, " the English staminate straw- 

 berries, (or rather those erroneously called 

 perfect plants,) are of no value in the Uni- 

 ted States, except as impregnators to pis- 

 tillates." Leaving out the English White 

 and Red Woods, and the Alpines, which, we 

 believe, our correspondent admits to bear 

 perfect blossoms, this divides all other 

 strawberries into two classes, viz : those 

 bearing purely pistillate blossoms, such as 

 Hovey^s seedling, (as generally known,) 

 Black Prince, Hudson, etc. ; and those with 

 staminate blossoms, i. e., containing sta- 

 mens, more or less abundant, as well as 

 pistils. 



What we have hitherto meant, when 

 using the term staminate, is a strawberry 

 blossom in which the stamens chiefly are 

 developed, and the pistils only imperfectly. 

 And we have called those blossoms perfect, 

 in which the normal proportion of pistils 

 and stamens is preserved, such as the Duke 

 of Kent, Early Scarlet, Alpines, English 

 Woods, etc. We used these terms, because 



