452 



Tin: CINCINNATI STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



over contained thirty acres, tweniy-three of 

 whicli are in a fruiting condition. This, as 

 indeed are almost all, is located on the slope 

 of a hill, having almost every aspect. The 

 owner of this field, besides smaller ones, has 

 a new field, of the last year's planting, of 

 twenty-three acres, making his entire Straw- 

 berry playitalions fifty-five or sixty acres in 

 extent. From the best estimate I could ob- 

 tain, there is not less than 07ie hundred acres 

 ill Strawberries in this neighborhood. The 

 owner of the thirty acre field, sent to market, 

 fiom that and a seven acre lot adjoining it, 

 one hundred and twenty bushels fer day, for 

 eight or nine days, during their prime, last 

 summer. If we double this, which I am 

 ii formed will be below the actual estimate, 

 we have from this neighborhood a daily 

 supply of two hundred and forty bushels. 



There are, on both sides of the Ohio, 

 many other quite extensive cultivators, for 

 whom it will probably not be saying too 

 much, that they add at least one hundred 

 and fifty bushels per day to the supply. 

 We have then an aggregate of three hun- 

 dred and ninety bushels, as the daily sitpply 

 of our market, for some eight or nine days 

 of their prime, without saying one word of 

 those raised in our private gardens, which is 

 by no means a small quantity. This, mul- 

 tiplied by thirty-two, gives us eleven thou- 

 sand four hundred and eighty quarts 'per day. 

 These, at an average of six cents per quart, 

 give us the daily sum of six hundred eighty- 

 eight dollars and eighty cents, as a reward 

 to the husbandman for this portion of his 

 industry. The season continues eighteen 

 or twenty days ; of course half of this time 

 the supply is not so great. The cultivation 

 on this extensive scale is quite rude, com- 

 pared with that on a more limited one, and 

 the yield of course proportionally less. This 

 is shown by the fact that the seven acre field 



above alluded to, three years after its plant- 

 ing, when more attention could be bestow- 

 ed on it, yielded a daily supply of seventy- 

 five bushels! The land up the valley of 

 Licking is among the best in this vicinity, 

 and when Kentucky shall act wisely, and 

 allow none but freemen to cultivate and 

 tread her soil, this valley, owing to the cha- 

 racter of its land, the various aspects aflxjrd- 

 ed, and the easy communications with this 

 rapidly growing mart, must become one 

 beautiful garden, for miles up its banks, 

 and land that can not be sold for over twen- 

 ty-five to thirty dollars per acre, will then 

 readily bring hundreds. 



The sexual character of the Strawberry 

 plant is so deeply interesting that I shall be 

 pardoned for dwelling somewhat on that 

 subject. The Strawberry plant, as now 

 understood, may be divided into three dis- 

 tinct classes or divisions. First, those hav- 

 ing both stamens and pistils so developed 

 and perfect, that the one may fertilize the 

 other, and are thus fruitful in themselves, 

 or in other words, perfect plants. The se- 

 cond, are those having pistils or female or- 

 gans fully developed, with generally the 

 rudiments of the stamens, or male organ, 

 but so defective as to be incapable of fertil- 

 izing the pistils; these are called pistilate, 

 or female plants. The third, are those 

 having the stamens perfectly developed, but 

 mostly without the pistilate organs ; these 

 are called staminate, or male plants. Each 

 of these divisions consists of innumerable 

 varieties, of separate and distinct origin, 

 varying more or less in the development of 

 their sexual organs, so that it is not unusual 

 to find a partial crop of fruit on some of the 

 two last named divisions. These last two 

 are, however, dependant on each other for 

 a perfect and full fruiting. When the 

 plants are properly proportioned, this is al- 



