146 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



and contradictions" discovered l)y Mr. Hovey in 

 my articles. When he sliall have devoted the same 

 attention to the character of the phxnt lor a single 

 season, that I have every season for thirty years, he 

 will not be twelve years in discovering that a seed- 

 ling of his is wholly defective in male organs. To 

 do this, he must, from the time vegetation starts in 

 the spring, till the fruit season is over, be among 

 his beds from daylight till breakfast time, and for 

 a greater or less number of hours through the day, 

 and not cease to visit them daily till the season is 

 over ; and do most of the planting, thinning out, 

 and weeding himself. 



As an evidence that Hovey's Seedling was ori- 

 ginally perfect, and still partially so, Mr. Downing 

 states that Mr. Tucker and Mr. Sargeant had beds 

 of Hovey's Seedling perfect, that were obtained 

 from Mr. Hovey himself. It will lie found that 

 these were the Boston Pine. The only surprise is, 

 that a person could ibr one moment be in doubt, as 

 the Boston plant bears no resemblance to Hovey's 

 justly celebrated Seedling. As soon as English cul- 

 tivators obtain a little practical knowledge, Hovey's 

 Seedling will supersede their famous British Queen, 

 Wilmot's Superb, Swainstone and Keene seedlings, 

 and all these be used merely as impregnators, even 

 by the great Professor Lindley himself. But " great 

 bodies move slow." Principles established by Lin- 

 riEeus are not easily overthrown, by new doctrines 

 learned from an ignorant market woman. Yours. 

 JSf. Longworth. Cincinnati, July 8, 1S47. 



P. S. Mr. Hovey readily discovers my '" nume- 

 rous errors and contradictions," yet he was years, 

 after his attention was drawn to the subject, disco- 

 vering the defect of his Seedling in stamens. The 

 children of my tenants, who cultivate the straw- 

 berry for sale, would, on the first view of his Seed- 

 ling in blossom, at the distance of twenty feet, tell 

 him it could l>ear no fruit without a husband. 



Remarks. The power of a clairvoyant in seeing 

 things hidden from the orlts of common mortals, is 

 outdone by our correspondent, who puts on his spec- 

 tacles of discovery, and looking from the Queen 

 city of the West across the Alleghanies, is able to 

 decide, past even the shadow of a doubt, the true 

 name and character of a disputed strawberry plant 

 in our garden on the Hudson I 



What Mr. Hovey may have sent to Mr. Buist and 

 others, as his Seedling strawberry, we know not ; 

 but of this we arc certain, that our plants referred 

 to by Mr. Longworth, are not Boston Fines. The 

 latter sort we have from three sources, and received 

 them in full Idoom this season from the President 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and 

 can state with the utmost certainty, that there is 

 no i-esemblance whatever to the variety we have 

 previously alluded to. as perfect or staminate-blos- 

 somed Hovey's Seedling, either in their liowers or 

 fruit. The fruit, leaf, and blossom of the Boston 

 Pine are totally distinct from those of Hovey's Seed- 

 ling, and could never be mistaken for it by any per- 

 son who had seen the two sorts ; while the fruit of 

 the variety we have cultivated as a starainate Ho- 

 vey's Seedlins, strongly reseml)les that of the com- 

 mon pistillate Hovey in form, .size and flavor. 



Mr. Tucker, to whose note, p. 49, Mr. Longworth 



alludes, has sent us the following reply to Mr. L.'s 

 remarks, dated Albany, July 23d : 



" I observe that Mr. Longworth comes to the 

 conclusion that the plants alluded to in my note in 

 the Horticulturist, as received from Mr. Hovey, are, 

 really the Boston Pine, and not Hovey's Seedling. 

 But it so happens, that I received from Mr. Hovey 

 at the same time, 100 Hovey's Seedling and 12 

 Boston Pine strawberries. Now the plants sent me 

 are very distinct varieties, and I have no reason to 

 doubt their being true to their names. Those sent 

 as the Boston Pine are large plants — the foot- 

 stalks and leaves being considerably larger than 

 those sent as Hovey's Seedling. The fruit also 

 was larger, and there was much less of it. An- 

 other mark of diflbrence is, that the Pine sends 

 out very few runners compared with the Seedling. 

 Mr. Longworth's conclusion in my case, therefore, 

 cannot be correct." 



Mr. Longworth is correct in saying that Mr. Ho- 

 vey has only lately arrived at any definite knowledge 

 of the character of his own Seedling. Mr. Beecher 

 indeed took the trouble to write a long article (which 

 we reprinted, p. 274 of our last volume) showing 

 that Mr. H.'s opinions on the character of the 

 strawberry were not entitled to the least considera- 

 tion, and varied every year. Thus, in 1843, in his 

 November number, he wrote, " there is no necessi- 

 ty of making any distinction in regard to the sexual 

 character of the plants when forming new beds." 



In 1844, he repeated, " there is no such thing as 

 male and female plants." 



But when his new sort, the Boston Pine, came 

 out, he suddenly changed his views, and the follow- 

 ing are his words : " Let the causes be what they 

 may, it is sufficient for all practical purposes to 

 know that the most abundant crops can be produced 

 by planting some sort abounding in staminate flow- 

 ers, in the vicinity of those which do not possess 

 them." 



Mr. Hovey's ground now is that Hovey's Seedling 

 is the best strawberry in the world ; that it is, and 

 always was imperfect or pistillate, and therefore 

 requires to be fertilized by a staminate sort. In the 

 last number of his journal, he says, advising those 

 about making new strawberry beds, " our plan is 

 to set ten rows of Hovey's Seedling, and then ten 

 rows of Boston Pine : both are equally productive, 

 and one fertilizes the other." 



The advice is good, and to the good qualities of 

 the strawberries themselves, we have continually 

 borne testimony. But it is worthy of attention that 

 .Hovey's Seedling was quite perfect, and bore admi- 

 rably ; that there was no need of any distinction 

 in regard to the sexual character, until just at the 

 moment when the new seedling, the Boston Pine, 

 was ready for dissemination ! 



Treatment of Trees carried to cold Lati- 

 tudes. — As a preference is given to the transmis- 

 sion of trees from the Atlantic nurseries to the re- 

 mote Western States during the autumn, and as it 

 often happens that they arrive at their destination 

 after the ground has become frozen, a few simple 

 suggestions may be deemed appropriate. 



da the arrival of trees after the ground is frozen, 



