82 



TflE STRAWBERRY QUESTION. 





evidence of the rhararler of the plant in England. 

 Fifleen yp.iis since I ini|iorti-vl sc\ eial variolics of 

 strawberries from London, ami among tiiem 1 hail 

 both staminale am! pistillate pUuilR, but not one 

 variety in v»A^li both orgrans were i>erfect in all 

 the blos^MHk The staminale varieties bore from 

 one-tenth •••le-thiril of a crop. Under the name 

 of Keen's seeillio}!:, 1 pot a pistillate plant, that 

 inipreirnateil, produces abundantly, ani.1 the fruit is 

 large and line. By thems(d\es, an acre wi>nlil not 

 produce a i)ertect berry. It is not what, in Kng-land, 

 is generallj- known by the name of Keen"9 SeeiUing. 

 Ulr. Keen raiseil many varieties. The true Keen is 

 a staminale plant, and is more perfect in both organs 

 than is usual, anil produces a partial crop of large 

 fruit. I incline to the belief, thai fur maricet, their 

 gardeners cultivate the same wedling of his as the 

 one sent me, and probably the same kind he im- 

 pregnated by hand. It is truly a valuable kind, 

 and worth twenty of the staminale seedlings. The 

 staminale Keen is cultivated for forcing ; and as the 

 object is large fruit, all the blossoms are picked oil", 

 except three or four that set first. 



But, it will be asked, 

 if true, why is this not 

 known to botanists and to 

 all our nurserymen who 

 raise the plant for sale Y 

 The reasons are obvious. 

 The strawberry belongs 

 to a class of j)lants that 

 have both the male and 

 female organs in the same 

 blossom. In all the white 

 varieties I have seen, anil 

 in (he Alpines, both organs are always perfect in 

 the same blossom. Both organs existing in all other 

 varieties, though not both perfect in all the blos- 

 soms, the attention of botanists is not directed to 

 if, or where noticed, is supposed to be an accidental 

 defect. In all the other species and varieties I have 

 seen, both wild and cultivated, I have met with 

 oneonly where the defect 

 in the one organ or the 

 other was not ajiparent, 

 and in that the fruit was 

 very small. I have never 

 seen a i)istillafc plant, 

 (one in which the female 

 organs i)redominate,) that 

 would by itself produce 

 any perfect fruit. Stami- 

 nale plants (those in 

 which the male organs 

 predominate), where partially productive, general- 

 ly produce the sweetest and most highly flavored 

 fruit. In certain soils and certain seasons, Keen's 

 Seedling, Wilmot's, the Iowa, and some other sta- 

 minale varieties will produce half a crop. 



Where our horticulturists raise from seed, all the 

 staminafe plants that are entirely barren, arc of 

 course thrown away, and the few slaminates that 

 produce a partial crop of large fruit retained. A 

 pistillate plant that, mixed with others, beans a full 



* The pistillate blossom is usually much smaller than the 

 Mamuiate. 



Fi". 27. Staminate Blossom. 



FiR. 28. Pistillate Blossom- 



crop of larere berries, is transplanted, as a treasure, 

 into a bed by itself for increase. 'I'he gardener ia, 

 the next season, surprised to find it wholly barren, 

 and, after one or two trials, throws it away. 



'I'he nurseryman, within a space of one hundreil 

 feet sipiarc, cultivates twenty or more varieties, and 

 a large portion of them are always staminale, and 

 imi)rcgnate the ))istillatc varieties. Fruit not being 

 iheir object, their .ittention is not directed to their 

 bearing, and the failure of a full crop in any variety 

 is attributed to frost or accident, or its being a bad 

 bearer. Of this we have a strong instance in IIo- 

 vcy's Seedling. It is eleven years since he raised 

 this plant ; he has increased it extensively for sale. 

 Six years since, I made known the defect in the 

 male organs of the jdant, and drew his attention to 

 it; and asserted that an acre of them, separated from 

 all others, would not produce a perfect berry. Till 

 l'S42, he continued to contend, and was positive 

 that his plant was perfect in both organs. In 1.^42 

 he admitted, in his Magazine, its defect in the male 

 organs. In 1844, he went back to his old doctrine, 

 as will be seen by his Magazine ; and it was not 

 till the August number of his iMagazine of the pre- 

 sent year, that his mind was again mystified on the 

 subject. How are the mere workies to gain infor- 

 mation, when the editor of a horticultural maga- 

 zine, and a nurseryman, who undertakes to enlighten 

 others, has not, in eleven years, ascertained the 

 character of his own seedling ? I am the less sur- 

 prised at this, and acquit Mr. Hovey of blame, as 

 Mr. Downing, in a recent letter, assures me, that 

 last season he raised a fine crop of Hovey's Seed- 

 ling, on a bed far separated from all others ; and 

 for a still stronger reason — that even the London 

 Horticultural Society holds the same doctrine. But 

 the question is now under investigation, and light 

 is thrown on it yearly by cultivators, and even the 

 London Horticultural Society will soon acknow- 

 ledge their error ; but not till Mr. Hovey has satis- 

 fied his own mind, when he will doubtless draw 

 public attention to it. Yet Mr. Hovey, in his Au- 

 gust number of the present year, states a person had 

 cultivated an acre of his Seedlings, where they 

 were mixed with slaminute plants, and raised two 

 thousand quarts ; and that his new seedling is valu- 

 able for iniiircgnating his ohl one. Here is a tacit 

 admission, that his old seedling is defective in the 

 male organs. The yield was not a large one: Mr. 

 Jackson raised at the rate of five thousand quarts to 

 the acre, near Cincinnati, as he informed the pub- 

 lic in a late publication. Mr. Downing, lam posi- 

 tive, had not Ilovey's Seedling unmixed with 

 others.* 



To keep varieties separate is next to an impossi- 

 bilit}', and the more so, as new ones are often pro- 

 duced in the bed from chance seed. I was absent 

 from home two months this summer, and left it in 

 charge with my gardener to watch the beds and 

 keep down runners. On my return, I found the 

 pistillate beds had become mixed, and the stami- 

 nate Iowa had run on the adjoining pistillate beds, 



* [What kind of evidence does our friend want to satisfy 

 him f If he will come here, he shall have the affirmations of 

 our ten gardeners, and our own upon the accumu\ated pile 



— El). IIoRT.] 



