454 



TIIE CINCINNATI STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



That I may be fully uiulcrstood, permit me 

 to illustrate. JIovci/s Secdlhig, is the product 

 of one single seedling plant, and not of two 

 or more plants. This plant was either per- 

 fect in the structure of its male and female 

 organs, or it was a pistilate or a staminate 

 plant. What its character was at its first 

 fruiting, it must still be, and will remain so, 

 with its offspring. If it were otherwise, or 

 there could be any uncertainty in this, 

 where would be the security as to the con- 

 tinuance of this or any other variety ? If 

 one plant may change its character, all the 

 rest may. Any plant, then, deviating from 

 the original, I take to be spurious, however 

 closely it may resemble it. 



If you plant the seed of a Bellflower Ap- 

 ple, the probability is that the product of 

 each seed will vary in its habits, growth, 

 foliage, and fruit. So with each seed of a 

 Strawberry. In the case of the Apple, you 

 would expect no radical change in the off'- 

 spring, whatever the mode adopted to in- 

 crease or propagate it. This I think is pre- 

 cisely a parallel case, and if sound in one, 

 must be in the other. It is true that bad, 

 as well as good cultivation will affect the 

 growth and fruit of either, but will not pro- 

 duce a radical change. That these views 

 are in harmony with the laws that govern 

 the continuation of races of plants and their 

 varieties, I apprehend will not be contro- 

 verted. 



The idea, then, as suggested by Mr. 

 Loudon, that " it is better to propagate only 

 from hermaphrodite plants, for though some 

 of the runners of these may prove sterile, 

 yet the greater part will be prolific," is fal- 

 lacious and untenable. 



We must, then, look to some other source 

 for the apparent or supposed change of the 

 Strawberry plant. In this I apprehend we 

 shall find no difficulty. Every cultivator 



knows the rapidity with wliiili runners arc 

 formed, and the extent to which they push, 

 which is not unfrequenlly six to eight feet. 

 This is more especially the case with the 

 staminate plants, which are always (owing 

 to their barrenness) the most vigorous and 

 luxuriant. Their whole substance is spent 

 in growth and multiplication. Although 

 a distinct plant, its general resemblance to 

 the pistilate plant when not in bloom, is 

 such, in many cases, as to elude the most 

 vigilant eye. It is not, therefore, safe to 

 take it for granted, because we have care- 

 fully removed all blooming staminate plants 

 that we are rid of them, but on the contrary, 

 by the removal of the old staminates we af- 

 ford greater facilities to the growth and de- 

 velopment of such unblooming plants as 

 have eluded our vigilance, and to our great 

 surprise and disappointment we find our 

 plantation full of them the next spring, 

 when we are ready to conclude the plant 

 is changeable. The safest practice is, if it 

 is desired to exclude all staminate plants 

 from the plantation, — when the plants are 

 in fruit, carefully to take up all that are not 

 well and fully set with perfect fruit, taking 

 care at the same time that no other planta- 

 tions are sufficiently near to admit inter- 

 lopers, and that no accidental seedlings are 

 permitted to spring up and to grow. If this 

 is faithfully performed, I doubt not the ex- 

 perimenter will be a thorough convert to 

 the doctrine that Strawberry plants are not 

 changed from perfect to pistilate, or stami- 

 nate, by good or bad cultivation.* 



I hope, sir, that you will find sufficient 

 poi7U in the above remarks, to make an 

 apology for the length of this article unne- 

 cessary. A. H. Eenst. 



Spring Garden, near Cincinnati, Jan. 'Mth, 1847. 



* [This subject is now a mailer of such nice observation, 

 Willi so many of our cultivators, that we trust the coming sea- 

 son will decide it — Ed.] 



