100 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



The introduction of the Hovey, in 1838, was the signal for 

 an awakening of interest in strawberry pollination. 

 With the prestige of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society and the Magazine of Horticulture behind it, the 

 Hovey was quickly disseminated to all parts of North 

 America. In introducing his seedling, Hovey claimed : 

 "In some varieties of strawberry there are both sterile 

 and fertile plants, generally termed male and female. 

 This is not the case with this new seedling ; every flower 

 is perfect and has a due proportion of both stamens and 

 pistils." ^ When the Hovey reached Cincinnati, how- 

 ever, it was immediately identified by the keen observers 

 there as a pistillate. 



The first shot in what was soon to be called " the straw- 

 berry war" was fired by Longworth in 1842.^ He in- 

 formed the Editor of 

 the Magazine of Hor- 

 ticulture: "Your straw- 

 berry is, in common 

 with the Methven 

 Castle, Hudson, and 

 other good berries that 

 produce very large fruit, 

 defective in the male 

 organs, and requires 

 other plants, perfect in the male organs, near them." 

 He illustrated this article with a drawing of "a male and 

 a female blossom of Hudson" (Fig. 7). The female 

 blossom shown by Longworth is a pistillate, but the blos- 

 som he designates as "male" is hermaphrodite, which 

 indicates that many of the plants called male at that 



1 Mag. HorL, 6 (1840), p. 293. 



2 lUd., 8 (1842), pp. 257-262. 



Male flower. 



Female floiver. 



Fig. 7. — "A male and female blossom 

 of the Hudson," as drawn by Nicholas 

 Longworth, in 1842. 



