162 



THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION REVIEWED. 



Mr. Prince speaks of " some varieties of 

 the HaulLiois Sirawberries being perfect in 

 both organs, and producing very large fruit." 

 Mr. LoiNGWoRTii is confident that he is in an 

 error. The La Grange, he supposes [right- 

 ly, Ed.] to be the same as the Musk or the 

 Prolific, and he says he has "heard intelligent 

 cultivators contend all the blossoms were per- 

 fect in both organs, and always bore full crops. 

 Such is not the fact ; but in some seasons 

 a large portion of the blossoms are wholly 

 barren, or bear small defective fruit, aiid 

 would, to a casual observer, be supposed to be 

 a7i abimdaiit bearer. ^^ This difference of 

 opinion has led us to examine farther into 

 the written history of this class.* 



James Worth of Pennsylvania, in a com- 

 munication to the American Farmer, Vol. 5, 

 p. 10. (1S23,) says : " In some species, par- 

 ticularly the JIauthois, the barren and fruit- 

 ful plants are separate," and should be ap- 

 portioned. A correspondent of the same 

 paper, Vol. 6, page 19S, (1824,) says that 

 " the Hautbois is the only strawberry I ever 

 met with which has male and female plants ; 

 all others which 1 have seen are hermaphro- 

 dites," and speaks of the necessity of set- 

 ling out a due proportion of male plants. 

 A correspondent of the same paper, in a 

 communication published in Vol. 7, p. 56, 

 complains of the barrenness of this variety, 

 and refers for instruction to the communica- 

 tion last mentioned, as coming from the best 

 horticulturist in the state (Maryland.) A 

 correspondent writing from the District of 

 Columbia to the same paper, in a commani- 

 catioii published in Vol. 7, page 60, says : 

 " It is only in the Hautbois variety that any 



* If the -writer of this article were familiar with this class 

 of Strawberries — the Hautbois — he would easily understand 

 ■what, only reasoning from the wTitings of others, now puzzles 

 him. Most of the HautboL* are strikingly defective in their 

 bloesoms, and have therefore been abandoned by many per- 

 sons as difficult of cultivation. The Prolific Hautbois is an 

 exception, and usually gives good crops — the blossoms being 

 DMirly perfect.— Ed. 



difficulty is experienced on account of the 

 sexual difTcrence in the plants. It differs 

 from the character (believed to be common 

 to all other varieties) inasmuch as ils female 

 flower at least is an imperfect hermaphrodite, 

 imperfect as to the male organs. On in- 

 spection, the filaments appear thicker and 

 shorter than in the Scarlet and other straw- 

 berries, and the anthers are small and efTele; 

 and experience proves that the flowers are 

 of themselves barren, or at least produce 

 small and juiceless fruit. The germ is of 

 the proper size, and is found, when properly 

 impregnated, to be fruitful. In the male 

 plant, the filaments are larger and more erect 

 than in the common strawberry, and they 

 have the anthers perfect and the germ small- 

 er. This, too, is believed to be what bota- 

 nists term an imperfect hermaphrodite, but 

 predominates in the male organs as the 

 others predominate in the female organs. 

 In practice it is well known to the observ- 

 ing horticulturist, that there being of this 

 plant but a small proportion of males to fe- 

 males, the beds will, if nature is left to her- 

 self, be in a great part barren." 



These figures accompanied the communi- 

 cation, and we presume them to be correct. 



Fig. 44. Slaminate Flower. Fig. 45. Pistillate Flower. 



[We give the figures, though scarcely to be 

 recognized as strawberry blossoms. — Ed.] 

 Both flowers had all the organs necessary to 

 produce fruit, plainly developed, but each 

 were imperfect. In the blossoms of every 



