VARIETIES, CHARACTER, ETC. 121 



they are named pistillate kinds. Either of the last two if 

 left alone would be barren ; the male flowers are always so, 

 but the pistillate or female flowers, if fertilized with pollen 

 from perfect-flowered plants, produce fruit. This fertilizing 

 is effected by the agency of the wind, or by insects seeking 

 honey. 



The o\nale in the ovarium to which the stigma leads rep- 

 resents, at maturity, a seed, — the actual fruit of the straw- 

 berry, — and within each seed Nature, by a subtile process 

 of her own, wraps up some of the qualities of the plant that 

 produced the seed, and some of the qualities also of the 

 plant from which came the pollen that impregnated the 

 ovule. This seed, planted, produces an entirely new va- 

 riety, which, as a rule, exhibits characteristics of both its 

 parents, and traits, also, of its grandparents and remote an- 

 cestors. The law of heredity is the same as in cattle or the 

 human race. Thus it may be seen that millions of new vari- 

 eties can be very easily obtained. A single plant-grower often 

 raises many thousands to which he never gives a name, by 

 reason of the fact — noted elsewhere than in the fruit gar- 

 den — that most of these new strawberries in no respect sur- 

 pass or even equal their parents. The great majority, after 

 fruiting, — which they do when two years old, — are thrown 

 away. A new variety which is not so good as the old ones 

 from which it came should not be imposed upon the public. 

 But they often are, sometimes deliberately, but far more 

 often for other reasons ; as, for instance, through the enthu- 

 siasm of the possessor. It is his seedling; therefore it is 

 wonderful. He pets it and gives it extra care, to which 

 even very inferior varieties generously respond. 



In the same old catalogue to which I have referred 

 Prince & Co. announce : " We now offer a few of our supe- 

 rior new seedlings, with descriptions, and there is not an 



