THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION. 



85 



admitted the existence of staminate and 

 pistillate plants, and the necessity of fertili- 

 zing the latter in order to obtain good fruit, 

 we also stated that we did not consider 

 them the normal state of any given variety, 

 but only imperfect ones, owing to the de- 

 generation of that sort. We then believed, 

 as we stilt do, that most of our strawberries, 

 in their normal or original state, bore per- 

 fect flowers, and that they run out into 

 pistillate and staminate forms through bad 

 cultivation. We, therefore, recommended 

 our readers to " choose such plants, when 

 in blossom, as have a natural proportion of 

 stamens and pistils — or such as, when in 

 fruit, show large, well developed trusses of 

 fruit. Set a little stake down by these, 

 and take runners only from them for your 

 new plantation. In this way, good planta- 

 tions will be secured with every plant pro- 

 ductive." 



So far as regards the general truth of the 

 foregoing, a great deal of subsequent close 

 examination has not induced us to change 

 our views on this point. Notwithstand- 

 ing Mr. Longworth's incredulity, we still 

 assure him, that two years ago we raised a 

 remarkably large and fine crop of Hovey's 

 Seedling without the proximity or aid of any 

 other sort whatever. The same results have, 

 to our own knowledge, been attained by 

 many persons this season, who have grown 

 large and perfect crops of the latter variety, 

 for the first time, in gardens where there has 

 either been no other strawberry of any kind, 

 or only in distant portions of the same gar- 

 den. We have examined these plants of 

 Hovey's Seedling, when in flower, and found 

 the blossoms large and perfect in stamens 

 and pistils. 



On the other hand, we have examined 

 several beds of Hovey's Seedling, where the 

 blossoms were nearly all pistillate, and were 

 therefore unproductive, unless planted where 



they were fertilized by other staminate 

 blossoms. 



What is the unavoidable inference from 

 these facts? Clearly this, as we have stated 

 before, and from which Mr. LoNGWor^TH, we 

 believe, dissents — that Hovey's Seedling, 

 andsome other sorts, do vary from a state that 

 is the normal or perfect one of the straw- 

 berry, into a pistillate or staminate form. 



This is not mere theory with us. Let us 

 refer for proof to our experiment with the 

 isolated bed of Hovey's Seedling in our own 

 garden. Last season was the first that this 

 bed came into bearing. Being fully alive 

 to the interest which this subject has as- 

 sumed, we examined this bed, daily, when 

 it was in bloom. As we have before stated, 

 the blossoms were all perfect ones — large, 

 well developed, and bearing a due propor- 

 tion of stamens and pistils. With a careful 

 search we were only able to discover tioo 

 plants that bore pistillate flowers. There 

 were no small plants in the bed. Every 

 plant bore flowers and fruit. The crop 

 excited the admiration of all who saw it, 

 and the berries nearly all measured three 

 and four inches in circumference. 



This bed was in strong, trenched soil. It 

 was allowed to make runners last season ; 

 but they were all taken off" in September, 

 and the same plants allowed to fruit this 

 season. 



When these same plants came in bloom 

 in May of this year, we watched the open- 

 ing of the blossoms with a great deal of 

 interest. Here were identically the same 

 plants, all but two of which bore perfect 

 blossoms and the finest fruit a year ago. 

 Would they vary ? was the question now 

 to be solved. 



On carefully examining the plants, when 

 the bed was fully in flower, we discovered 

 that more than one-third of the plants now 

 bore only pistillate blossoms. Of the re- 



