IGO 



THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION REVIEW F.D. 



The average results encourage us to perse- 

 vere in planting orchards, cultivating gar- 

 dens, and otherwise improving our estates. 

 I inav take another occasion to spcak 

 morc particularly of the natural productions 



of our forests and fields, as well as of our A 

 actual achievements in horticulture and 

 other rural arts. Yours, &c. 



Tno: 'Allei*. 



Crystal Springs, St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 29, 184(5. rx 



THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION REVIEWED. 

 BY L. C. EATON, PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



[The " strawberrj^ question " seems to be 

 the causa belli o( the day. The following 

 article comes to us from our Providence 

 correspondent, and we give place to it, 

 though it is mostly of a speculative charac- 

 ter, as perhaps representing the views of 

 some who may differ from the opinions we 

 maintain on this subject. We have re- 

 ceived a great number of letters from culti- 

 vators in different parts of the country, since 

 the publication of our views on p. SO of this 

 journal, expressing their assent to those 

 views; and it is but just that there should 

 •e a representation from those who differ 

 from us. We have commented anew on 

 some leading points in Mr. Eaton's article 

 in the shape of notes which accompany 

 it.— Ed.] 



Mr. Downing says, that Mr. Longworth 

 has established, in the eyes of the world, 

 the important fact, " that, by his favorite 

 mode of cultivating the Strawberry, viz., 

 by planting a due proportion of staminate 

 and pistillate plants, double the usual crop 

 may be always obtained." 



Whatever experience, as a horticulturist, 

 M. rLongworth may have, and however much 

 of useful information he has acquired and 

 disseminated, he would hardly claim the 

 credit of establishing a fact, which has been 

 for the last twenty-five years mentioned by 

 most of the authors upon the cultivation of 

 fruits, and repeatedly brought into notice 



by communications published in our agri- 

 cultural papers. Some cultivators in every 

 part of the country have practiced upon it, 

 and been successful in raising large crops.* 

 Some, though their attention has been 

 drawn to it, have neglected to profit by it, 

 and others remain in total ignorance, and 

 still continue to cultivate beds that will 

 hardly repay their labor. The fact has been 

 established, and the reason why it is not 

 more generally known and practiced upon, 

 has not, as we apprehend, been owing so 

 much to the incredulity of botanists, as 

 Longworth suggests, for they have little to 

 do with cultivating fruit, as to the neglect 

 of many of our farmers, gardeners and even 

 nurserymen, to inform themselves upon the 

 subject. 



Mr. Longworth says, that " our Euro- 

 pean gardeners admit that the principles 

 contended for by him, are true in this cli- 

 mate, but still contend that, in Europe, all 

 species are perfect in their blossoms, and 



* Mr. LoiifT^vortli docs not claim, and we do not claim for 

 him, the credit of discovering this fact. It had been ascer- 

 tained or discovered long before, m Europe. But even there, 

 it remains to this day a disputed point, among intelligent hor- 

 ticulturists, and is by no means established. Mr. Longworth, 

 by continually keeping it before the public here, by testing it 

 again and again, and more than all by the proof he has brought 

 forward in the enormous product of the market growers of 

 Cinciimati, who follow this mode, we consider entitled fully 

 to the credit of having established it. A fact may be well 

 known to a few, for a long time before it is " established in 

 the eyes of the world.'' Fulton was not the first person who 

 ascertained that steam might be used to propel vessels ; yet no 

 one will dispute that he established that fact.— Ed. 



