114 APPENDIX. 
the strawberry, and they all unite with me in opinion.” 
“<The Hudson is the principal sort cultivated for 
market, and has been for fifty years. It is what we 
call female or prolific. It never hasaneck. A Mr. 
Abergust, who was my near neighbor, and excelled in 
strawberries, removed to Cincinnati about thirty years 
since, and took the true Hudson with him, and the 
same now cultivated here. All our principal market 
gardeners now begin perfectly to understand the differ- — 
ence between staminate and pistillate plants, and find 
the former such strong runners as generally to prefer 
keeping them in separate beds.” Mr. Abergust for 
many years sold nine-tenths of the strawberries brought 
to our market, and raised the Hudson only. While I 
could, from one-fourth of an acre, scarcely raise a 
bushel, he would raise forty bushels. His fruit was 
much larger than any other brought to market, and 
commanded from 25 to 37; cents per quart. He made 
a handsome competence from the sale of his fruit. His 
secret he kept to himself, and had heen as much noted 
for the size of his fruit, and the quantity raised on a 
given space of ground, in Philadelphia as he was here. 
A chance observation of a son of his one day, in my 
garden, saying, ‘I must raise but little fruit, as all my 
plants were males,” first led my attention to the sub- 
ject. Isoon discovered that there were what he called 
male and female plants, and communicated the fact to 
our market gardeners. The result was, strawberries 
rapidly increased in our market, till as fine as had been 
raised by Mr. Abergust were sold at from 3 to 10 cents 
per quart, and he ceased to cultivate them. 
