THE CINCINNATI STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



453 



ways more abundant than that of the first 

 division. An important question has been 

 raised, " how far is the character of the 

 staminate impressed on the pistilate to affect 

 the size and flavor of its fruit ?" If we may 

 be permitted to reason from well established 

 analogies, it is certain that the seed does 

 possess the properties of both parents to a 

 greater or Jess degree. This would seem 

 to justify the idea that the pulp also maj, 

 for that is as much the result of the union 

 of the sexes as the seed, which it only en- 

 velopes. [Our correspondent forgets that 

 many male plants bear fine fruit, minus the 

 seeds, without the aid of stamens — Ed.] If 

 it be true (as is believed by some) that the 

 flavor of the cucumber is imparted to the 

 melon, by the pollen of its bloom on the pis- 

 tils of the other, there would seem to be 

 good reason for directing attention to the 

 subject, in the hope that it may induce 

 those who have leisure, and feel an interest 

 in the advancement of horticultural know- 

 ledge, to test the question by careful expe- 

 riments. 



The question of the cha7igeability of the 

 Strawberry plant, by your experiments on 

 Hovey's Seedling, as detailed in the Au- 

 gust No. of the " Horticulturist," is still left 

 a debatable point. And unless you have 

 some how been deceived, I do not see but 

 that we are thrown back to where we start- 

 ed, and that with a degree of increased un- 

 certainty that leaves the future prospects 

 and hopes of the cultivator all a matter of 

 chance, unless indeed your opinion shall 

 prove true, that when the plant changes to 

 pistilate or staminate, it is so permanently. 

 Your view as to this point would seem to 

 reconcile the difficulty under which Mr. 

 HovEY has labored to discover the true cha- 

 racter of his Seedling, which should, there- 

 fore, no longer be a subject of surprise. 



My experience accords with that of our 

 most eminent Horticulturists, who have de- 

 voted their attention to this subject, and 

 whose opinions, so far as I can learn, are 

 against the possibility of such change. 

 Among them I will take the liberty to name 

 Dr. W. Smith. He informs me that he 

 made a plantation of the Hudson, excluding 

 all staminate plants, and remote from other 

 plantations ; the result was, his plants con- 

 tinued to bloom finely, from year to year, 

 but without setting fruit; when satisfied, 

 he introduced staminate plants, and the con- 

 sequence was an abundant supply of fruit. 

 Dr. Shaler informs me that some years 

 since he procured, direct from Hovev, 

 plants of his Seedling. These he increased 

 by themselves ; they bloomed finely, but 

 set no fruit ; at length he introduced into 

 his plantation a single plant, in a pot, of 

 the Iowa male Strawberry, when in bloom. 

 Its ample supply of pollen was liberally 

 strewed on the pistils of all the plants in its 

 neighborhood, which resulted in the setting 

 and maturing a good crop of fine fruit on all 

 the plants within its reach, the others re- 

 maining unfruitful as before. R. Bucha- 

 nan, Esq., late President of our Horticul- 

 tural Society, informs me that he finds the 

 same distinction to exist among the native 

 or wild Strawberry plant, and on transplant- 

 ing them to his grounds, has never disco- 

 vered any change produced by cultivation 

 on their sexual organs. This is also con- 

 firmed by N. LoNGwoRTH, Esq., Geo. Gra- 

 ham, Esq., and Dr. Mosher, who have all 

 experimented considerably on the wild or 

 native plant. 



My own experience, corroborating these 

 opinions and experiments, leads me to this 

 point : that every variety of the Strawberry, 

 from the original sorts, is the product or re- 

 sult of a single j^lant, from a single seed. 



