THE BOSTON PINE STRAWBERRY. 



BOSTON PINE. Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xi. p. 290. 



SINCE the production of the Hovey's Seedling and Boston Pine, 

 thousands of plants have been raised from seed, by amateur cultivators 

 and nurserymen in various parts of the country, although, before their 

 origin, we are not aware of the growth of one American strawberry of 

 any value. Indeed, the strawberry is as easily raised from seed as any 

 other plant, and with the certainty of producing very good varieties. 

 The French cultivators raise the Alpine strawberry in this way, as an 

 annual, the plants bearing a fine crop the first year. 



But, in the production of new varieties of the strawberry, it is impor- 

 tant that they should possess some qualities superior to those already 

 known, in order to render them worthy the attention of the cultivator : 

 merely as seedlings, they are of little value. There are many qualities 

 which are requisite to the character of a first-rate fruit ; and the mere 

 possession of a portion of them, without the others, will fail to give any 

 variety a high rank for general cultivation. To combine the greatest 

 number of these good properties was our object in the growth of new 

 kinds, and we consequently rejected all but two of the many hundred 

 seedlings which we produced. 



In our description of Hovey's Seedling, we have stated that, besides 

 that variety, we noted down upwards of thirty other plants, which pos- 

 sessed excellent qualities, and appeared deserving of further trial. Our 

 expectations had been fully realized in the production of the former va- 

 riety, yet some of the others were remarkably fine, and from them we 

 thought one or two valuable varieties might be obtained. In the spring 

 of 1838, six or eight of these varieties were planted out in a bed by 

 themselves, and, during the season, made a fine growth. In 1839, they 

 bore a fine crop : they were then carefully looked over again : three 

 plants were now selected, and the remainder of them dug up. In 1841, 

 the^had covered a good-sized bed, and produced an abundant crop of 

 fruit. All these would have been called excellent sorts, but we only 

 saved one, which, from its earliness, size, beauty, exquisite flavor, abun- 

 dant product, and hardiness, appeared distinct from any kind in cultiva- 

 tion. This was the Boston Pine. 



It has always been a source of regret to us, that our labels should 

 have been so displaced, from the effects of frost in throwing them out 

 of the ground, that we could not ascertain, with certainty, the parent- 



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