434: ANNUAL EEPORT. 



white clover, green and bine grass, and perennial grasses have 

 been eradicated. These grasses we mention are very troublesome 

 to destroy. They will take root after the tending of the berries 

 is finished, grow a great height before the berries ripen, and 

 will seriously injure the crop. They cannot be removed until 

 after the picking, and then they have grown to such a height, 

 and are matted so thoroughly, that their removal is very diffi- 

 cult. For this reason we mention the previous preparation of 

 soil. The thorough eradication of these grasses is desirable. 

 Care should also be used not to apply any manure or mulch that 

 contains foul seeds of clover or grasses. Barn-yard manures 

 should be composted with potash salts before using, which will, 

 if properly applied, destroy all the seeds in the comjDOst, and be 

 useful as a fertilizer also. 



BOTANY OF THE STEAWBERRY. 



It may not be known to some of our readers that all plants are 

 bisexual, except a few plants called Cryptogams. Most plants 

 are perfect, or that is, plants that have both 

 stamens and i^istils perfect in all the flowers. 

 The Wilson and Sharpless are of this class, 

 and are hermaphrodite, or perfect-flowering, 

 while in the Manchester, Crescent, and others, 

 the stamens are abortive or wanting, and such 

 FIGURE 2. berries are called pistillate berries. The pistils 



are the female parts of the flower; they spring from the seed 

 the berry, one from each seed, are about a line in length, and are 

 found in the centre of the flower. Figure 2 gives a flower where 

 there are only pistils present. Figure 3 shows the same flower 

 cut in sections. Such flowers as those of pistillate berries, like 

 the Manchester, Crescent, and others, will not bear fruit unless a 

 staminate plant, as the Wilson or Sharpless, is planted near to 

 fertilize them. This is done by the stamens of the flowers which 

 are shown in Figure 4, and in cross-section of 

 Figure 5, where the stamens are seen in an 

 outward circle around the pistils in the centre ^"Vl'^s^^^ ^ 

 of the flower. These stamens produce a kind of 

 yellow dust, called pollen, and when a bee, or 

 other insect in search of honey, crawls over the 

 flower, some of the pollen clings to the bee, and figure 3. 



is lodged on the pistils of the flower. The flower is then per- 



