CINCINNATI STRAWBERRY REPORT. 



519 



block in the way of the Cincinnati commit- 

 tee ; we mean the marvel, why great au- 

 thorities and botanists abroad have been so 

 slow to discover, or practice upon the value 

 of the abnormal sexual character of many 

 varieties of this plant. Granting that a va- 

 riety once pistillate is always pistillate, and 

 one staminate always staminate, it does not 

 follow that somewhere, many, or perhaps 

 all good staminate varieties, for "some un- 

 known causes," do not bear good crops. 

 These unknown causes we take to be suita- 

 ble soil a7id climate for the developme7it of the 

 pistils in the staminate sorts. In Eng- 

 land, the damp climate and high culture fa- 

 vor this development ; consequently, such a 

 strawberry as KeeiCs Seedling maintains its 

 place as the first variety for a good crop all 

 over Great Britain for 20 years. (That it 

 certainly would not do this if it did not bear 

 well, practical men will admit without dis- 

 pute.) In this country, the hot and dry 

 climate renders Keen''s Seedling, and most 

 other staminate sorts, uncertain bearers, 

 and thence often quite worthless, because 

 the pistils are usually not well developed. 



But there are soils and situations in the 

 United States so favorable that staminate 

 sorts do bear very heavy crops. Thus, we 

 have once seen a heavier crop of large 

 fruit on Swains toners Seedling, [stamiiiate,) 

 than ever upon Hovey's Seedling, [pistil- 

 late ;) and several cultivators in this state 

 have been equally successful with Ross' 

 Phanix. 



The difficulty is that the staminates "caw- 

 ?iot be depended on." Sometimes they bear 

 well — sometimes not ; as the season proves 

 hot or cool, and the soil is more or less well 

 adapted. In England, we think they can 

 be relied on. Hence the necessity, here, of 

 the resort to the Cincinnati mode of de- 

 pending upon the pistillates, (such as Hud- 

 son, Hovey's Seedling, &c.,) which, when 



fertilized by a small proportion of stami- 

 nates, always bear heavy crops ; and hence 

 the great value, for America, of the Cin- 

 cinnati discovery. 



We are, therefore, very glad to see the 

 whole matter put in so intelligible and de- 

 finite a shape as it has been by this com- 

 mittee, in the 9 articles of faith which we 

 have just quoted. 



There are two or three points of little 

 consequence that we will notice in the re- 

 port. In article 7, the committee say there 

 is no '^perfect flowered strawberry plant." 

 In order to leave no doubt, however, what 

 is meant by this hated word (we can scarce- 

 ly write it without imagining a frown on 

 Mr. Longworth's brow I) they add — "in 

 which the blossoms will all be u?iiformly 

 so well provided with both sets of organs 

 as to be followed by perfect fruit every 

 year." 



Quite right ; we agree fully with the 

 committee. But is this the definition of a 

 perfect (that is, an ordinary fruitful her- 

 maphrodite) flower, as would be understood 

 generally by botanists and gardeners ? The 

 apple, for instance, is a Rosaceous plant, be- 

 longs to the same family, and the blossom 

 has the same natural structure as the straw- 

 berry. Now we think no one will deny 

 that the apple bears a perfect flower, al- 

 though, from various causes, all the blos- 

 soms may not set perfect fruit every year. 



Again, leaving the acknowledged sta?ni- 

 nates and pistillates out of the question, 

 there is still a small class of strawberries, 

 well known in our gardens as the " Wood 

 Strawberries'" of Europe [English Red-wood, 

 White-wood, Src.,) with small leaves, and 

 small erect blossoms, which have, in the 

 general sense, perfect flowers ; that is, with 

 the normal proportion of stamens and pis- 

 tils, constant in their habit, (like those of 

 the apple and pear,) and which always, in 



