THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 367 



pean practices. The greatest advances in the industry, then as now, and 

 as with any other fruit at any time, were in the greater numbers and in 

 the betterment of varieties. By 1834, when the epoch-making Hovey 

 originated, there were more than fifty well-recognized varieties under 

 cultivation in the country, nearly all of which were offspring of F. virginiana 

 but nearly all of which had originated in England or France. A few of the 

 Pine varieties, as sorts derived from F. chiloensis were called, had also been 

 introduced from abroad, but the cold winters and hot siimmers played 

 havoc with the plants. Possibly the most noted exception was the Mul- 

 berry, a Pine much grown about Boston which deserves a place in straw- 

 berry history because it was one of the varieties Hovey used in making his 

 crosses, an event to which we now come. 



The origination of the Hovey was a landmark not only in strawberry 

 culture but also in American pomology as it is accredited by all as the 

 first variety of any fruit to come from an artificial cross in this country. 

 Hovey,^ whose portrait appears as the frontispiece, and to whom this 

 volume is thereby dedicated, undertook the breeding of strawberries 

 because, as one gleans from his writings, he recognized the urgent need of 

 better varieties and saw the possibilities of improving wild strawberries. 

 All of the varieties he knew were best marked by their imperfections, — 

 plants were unproductive, and berries were small and poor in quality. 

 The Pines from Europe approached perfection in fruit but were poor in 



' Charles Mason Hovey was bom in Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 26, 1810, and died in the city 

 of his birth September 2, 1887. His work is noteworthy to small fruit growers in the United States, and 

 The Small Fruits of New York is dedicated to him by publishing his portrait as the frontispiece, by reason 

 of his work with strawberries. Hovey's greatest contribution to horticulture was the Hovey strawberr>', 

 originated by him and first fruited in 1836. But he is known to horticulture also because of his great 

 collection of pears, apples, plums, grapes and ornamental plants on his grounds at Cambridge. He was 

 throughout a long and busy life one of America's best authorities on varieties of fruits about which he wrote 

 two sumptuous volumes, issued in parts from 1852 to 1856, in which he described the varieties of tree and 

 small fruits cultivated in the United States. The volumes are handsomely printed and contain more 

 than one hundred colored plates of the varieties which he described. He was best known in his lifetime as 

 the editor of The Magazine of Horticulture, founded in 1835 and published until 1868, between which dates 

 it had an uninterrupted period of prosperity, with a longer life than any other American horticultural 

 magazine. The journal was foimded as The American Gardener's Magazine by Hovey and his brother, 

 Phineas Brown Hovey, but in 1837 the name was changed to The Magazine of Horticulture, with Charles 

 M. Hovey, editor. Hovey was also a prominent and reliable nurseryman and seed dealer, and through his 

 establishment many new plants came to America. He was an active member throughout his life of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society and was for a time its president. His writings are characterized by 

 conservatism and accuracy, and he is now, as he was in his lifetime, one of America's great authorities on 

 pomology and horticulture. 



