CINCINNATI STRAWBERRY REPORT. 



517 



The entire difference between a bountiful 

 crop and no crop at all, often depends on this. 

 The old maxim ''a stitch in time saves nine," 

 applies with great force in raising onions. 



5. The blights and injuries to which the 

 crop may be subject. 



So far as we have observed, this crop is 

 as certain as any other that is cultivated. 

 We know that onions will not grow without 

 a reasonable proportion of heat and moist- 

 ure ; but we have rarely, if ever known, an 

 entire failure of the crop, where due dili- 

 gence has been used. There are occasion- 

 ally blights, the causes of which we have 

 not learned. The more prominent will be 

 noticed. 



Sometimes Ave have seen the plant cov- 

 ered with a small insect or louse, that gives 

 the top a white or light colored aspect, 

 and stops and stints the growth. These 

 make their appearance about the time the 

 bottoming commences. We have heard 

 their appearance charged to the use of mus- 

 cle-bed ; but whether they are limited to 

 land on which muscle-bed has been used, 



we cannot say. We think not. We think 

 they are natural associates of the plant. 

 The effect of them is to diminish the quati- 

 tity, but not materially injure the quality 

 of the vegetable. 



The crop is sometimes injured by a hlue 

 iiuncld that gathers on the tops, occasioned 

 by fogs, or an excess of moisture from fre- 

 quent and long continued rains. 



There is a worm or maggot, occasionally 

 found upon the onion plant, in the early 

 stages of its growth, causing it to turn yel- 

 loio and die. This insect will be found in 

 the bulb, originating from eggs laid upon 

 the leaves, by a small ash colored fly, the 

 scientific name of which is said to be An- 

 Ihomyia cejyarum, (See Transactions of the 

 N. Y. State Ag. Society for 1843, page 

 135.) It comes to maturity in less than a 

 month, so that there may be several gene- 

 rations in the course of the season. Their 

 appearance in this vicinity is rare. Pulve- 

 rized charcoal and fire have been found the 

 most effectual remedies, against the ravages 

 of this class of depredators. 



REVIEW. 



The Cincinnati Strawberry Report. — This is 

 a pamphlet of 16 pages ; being the report made 

 by the committee of the Cincinnati Horticultural 

 Society, mostly practical cultivators, (Dr. Ward- 

 er, chairman,) to whom the sexual character of 

 the strawberry was referred for investigation last 

 season. 

 The pith of the report is contained in the 

 following extract : 



" After carefully collecting and review- 

 ing the facts which they have observed and 

 recorded, the committee present the follow- 

 ing conclusions, or 'postulates, which have 

 been deduced from their united observa- 

 tions : — 



" 1. That there are many different varie- 

 ties of the strawberry which are character- 

 ized in part by the foliage, pubescence, 

 mode of growth, and fruit ; and also by 

 their inflorescence. 



"2. That the varieties of inflorescence, 

 (the most important to the cultivator,) con- 

 sist in the greater or less development of 

 the stamens and pistils, respectively ; upon 

 which are based our terms and classifica- 

 tion — ^ staminate' and 'pistillate:' or, more 

 familiarly with the mass of cultivators, male 

 a.nd female. 



"3. That these classes are permanent 

 aberrations from what the great Linnaeus 

 considered the normal condition of this ge- 

 nus of plants, as of its natural family Ro- 

 sace ^e. 



" 4. That nearly all botanists (and among 

 them our most enlightened modern writers,) 

 have overlooked the important error of Lin- 

 naeus, and have simply copied after him in 

 their descriptions of the strawberry, without 

 verifying for themselves; while a plain, 



