TWENTY-FIVE PEARS. 



173 



which on one plant were furnished with 

 female organs, and on another plant with 

 male organs ; so that even were that doc- 

 trine true, there would be no need of intro- 

 ducing other varieties in order to make them 

 fruitful, and also that there were two Ho- 

 vey's Seedlings raised, one female, and one 

 male, an evident absurdity ; so that the 

 question resolves itself into this, that the 

 plant, having lost its sexual organs through 

 excessive cultivation, a different mode is 

 likely to restore them ; but as I have already 

 stated, I cannot conceive that they are ne- 

 cessary to what, in horticultural parlance, 

 is called the fruit. Senex. 



New-York, Aug. 25, 1847. 



Kemarks. — That there are instances of 

 fruit being borne without the aid of the 

 stamens, is undoubtedly true ; but for the 

 most part these are exceptions to the gene- 

 ral law. Even in the case of seedless ap- 

 ples and other fruits, it is necessary that the 

 pistils be fertilized by the pollen, in order 

 that the fleshy receptacle which we call the 

 fruit, should swell and arrive at maturity. 



In the case of the strawberry, there have 

 been so many experiments made lately, 

 that we are no longer in the dark as to the 

 facts regarding it. It has been carefully 

 proved, that certain sorts, called, from their 

 deficiency in stamens, pistillate, as the 

 Hudson, for example, will not, if planted 

 entirely separate from all contact with other 



varieties, called slaminate, from their hav- 

 ing the stamens fully developed, set one 

 berry to a dozen blossoms ; while the same 

 pistillate sorts, if planted along side of sta- 

 minate ones, set nearly every blossom, and 

 bear large crops of fruit. This has been 

 tried repeatedlj', till it is impossible to 

 doubt its truth. 



On the other hand, it is perfectly true, 

 as Senex states, that the strawberry is not a 

 dioecious plant ; and that this so called sta- 

 minate.and pistillate form, is only an ano- 

 malous state of the plant, origin ated or af- 

 terwards produced in certain varieties by 

 cultivation. Thus, in some soils, certain 

 sorts called staminate, such as Keen's 

 Seedling, Ross' Phoenix, etc., bear most 

 abundant crops, because they have the 

 normal proportions of pistils, while in others 

 they are almost barren, because the pistils 

 are not well developed, and the flower does 

 not set any fruit. Such sorts, therefore, 

 vary, and cannot fully be depended on. As 

 it is now ascertained, the most certain mode 

 of growing large crops, is to plant large 

 beds of pistillates alternate with small beds 

 of staminates, in order that the latter may 

 always fertilise the former, since the stami- 

 nates, though they frequently vary, and fail 

 to produce pistils, yet always produce sta- 

 mens. Most persons are now adopting this 

 as the shortest and surest mode of producing 

 large and constant crops in this climate. Ed. 



REMARKS ON TWENTY-FIVE PEARS. 



BY J. L., PHILADELPHIA. 



As there is a good deal of diversity in the 

 opinions respecting many new fruits, in va- 

 rious parts of the country, owing to differ- 

 ences of soil and climate, we take the liber- 

 ty of printing the following extract from a 

 letter received from a gentleman in Penn- 



sylvania, whose opinion is of value, and who 

 has paid a good deal of attention to the 

 culture of fruits. His soil, we may pre- 

 mise, is a good sandy loam. — Ed. 



As I know you wish to collect infor- 

 mation about the success or failure of dif- 



