102 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION. 

 In refertiice to your article on iwge 86 of 

 the June number of The Lancaster Fakm- 

 EK, with regard to the tine, large, vigorous 

 plant having home about thirty tlowers, and 

 all abortive hut tn:o, exhibited by Mr. J. B. 

 Erb, who desired to know the cause, without 

 saying any more about the intervention of in- 

 sects to wliat has been said on page 83 same 

 number, I shall confine myself to a considera- 

 tion of the question from a botanical stand- 

 point. 



I herewith illustrate a strawben-y blossom 

 cut through the <=| ^^/^~k •'•C^ 1 

 middle, (Fig. 1). 2, 

 The lowest limb is 

 the green flower .-;^ 

 cup or calyx sprea- ^^.^ 

 ding out upon the ^^Sj 11/ 



peduncle. The stamens are shown attached 

 by their filaments to the inner side of the calyx 

 around the central rounded receptacle— hence 

 pcrigyuous. This receptacle increases in size, 

 and forms the edible pulp or fruit, upon and 

 in which are embedded the achenia or real 

 fruit and seed, also called carpels. Fig. 2, 

 magnified, showing the lateral stile and 

 stigma, or jointly the pistil. The anthers con- 

 tain the pollen, and are supported on the fila- 

 ments, and jointly called the stamens or male ' 

 organs, and the pistil the female. The petals, 

 two of which are shown from the corolla or 

 flower. Thus we have in the strawberry a 

 perfect flower composed of calyx or sepals, co- 

 rolla or petals, stamens and pistils, all in one ; 

 hence called complete also, and hermaphro- 

 dite, the true normal character of the straw- 

 berry ; but liy suppression from various causes 

 the whorl of stamens are only rudimentary, 

 without anthers, and of course without pollen, 

 while the pistils may be perfect ; in others, the 

 pistils may te abortive and undeveloped : thus 

 a male plant when perfect stamens and anthers 

 only are formed, and female when pistils (jidy. 

 The strawberry {Fragaria) belongs to the sub- 

 order RosACEvE proper, but included with the 

 tribe 2, Dryade;e, where the fruits are achenia, 

 orsometinieslittledrupes, and when numerous, 

 crowded on a conical or hemispherical torus, as 

 in the strawberry, raspberry and blackberry, all 

 considered as bearing complete flowers. When 

 either a pistil, stamen, corolla or calyx is 

 wanting, the flower is said to be incomplete. 

 But it is by no means rare that one or the 

 other may not be suppressed — considered an 

 abortimi ; a result arising to a great extent by 

 crossing. R. T. Clarke crossed two prolific 

 members, Myatt's B. Queen and Keen's seed- 

 ling, with the Wood and Ilautbois, and in 

 each case he raised only a single seedling ; one 

 of these fruited, but was almost barren. Mr. 

 W. Smith, of York, has raised similar hybrids 

 with equally poor success. There is a great 

 ditliculty, and yet hybrids sufficiently fertile . 

 have been produced. Prof. Gray informs us 

 that this takes place in the districts where 

 they grow wild, and result in producing puz- 

 zling intermediate forms. Much controversy 

 has taken place with regard to sexes. The true 

 Hautbois properly bears the male and female 

 organs on separate plants, and was conse- 

 quently named by Ducliesne dioica. But it 

 frecpiently produces hermaphrodites, and Lind- 

 ley (fiardner's Chronicle, 1847, p. 539) by 

 propagating such plants by runners, at the 

 same time destroying the males, soon raised a 

 self-prolific stock. English varieties intro- 

 duced into the United States, when cultivated 

 in rich soils, commonly produce plants with 

 separate sexes. Thus a whole acre of Keen's 

 seedlings in this country proved almost sterile 

 from the absence of male tlowers ; but the 

 more general rule is, that the male plants 

 overrun the females. Some members of the 

 Cincinnati Horticultural Society, especially 

 appointed to iuvcstigite this subject, report 

 that " few varieties have the flowers perfect in 

 both sexual organs," &c. Tlie most successful 

 cultivators in Ohio plant for every seven rows 

 of "pistillata" or female plants, <me row of 

 hermaphrodites, which afford pollen fcjr both 

 kinds ; but the hermaphrodites, owing to tlieir 

 expenditure in the production of pollen, bear 



less fruit than the female plants. The truth 

 is, there is an actual constitutional difference 

 in varieties. Some too tender, except under 

 peculiar conditions, will fail to yield fruit, 

 where other varieties will succeed ])erfectly. 

 Much depends on the soil. A famous gardener 

 in England said that "no mortal could grow 

 the British Queen at Shrubland Park unless 

 the whole nature of the soil was altered." 

 This, in other near localities, is found delicious 

 and prolific. Evidently the climate is the 

 same. Some are hardy enough to withstand 

 the Russian winters, but easily burnt by the 

 sun, so that they will not succeed in certain 

 soils either in England or the United States. 

 Other varieties require more water, as the Fil- 

 bert Prince Strawberry, and if the ]>lants once 

 suffer from drought they will do little or no 

 good afterwards. Cuthill's Black Prince Straw- 

 berry evinces a singular tendency to mildew. 

 No less than six cases have been recorded of 

 this variety suffering severely, while other va- 

 rieties growing close by, and treated in exactly 

 the saiiie manner, were not at all infested by 

 this fungus. Tlie time of maturity diflers 

 much in different varieties. Some belonging 

 to the wood and Alpine section produce a sue-- 

 cession of crops throughout the summer. The 

 Red Bush Alpine Strawberry (one of the F. 

 vesca sections, fields and rocks, connnon one of 

 our wild indigenous species) does not produce 

 stolens or runners, and this remarkalile devia- 

 tion of structure is reproduced truly by seed. 

 Another sub-variety— the White Bush Alpine 

 —is similarly characterized, but when [irtipa- 

 gated by seed it often degenerates and iiro- 

 duces plants with runners. I shall not attempt 

 to enumerate the numerous species of this de- 

 licious fruit which have been cultivated, and 

 follow up the lapid improvement within the 

 last fifty years. We have now briefly shown 

 that great diversity exists in this fru'jrant 

 fruit, hence its botanical generic name Fra- 

 garia. During the years 1853 and 1854 a 

 great controversy went on in the papers on the 

 " Strawberry question." Walter Elder main- 

 tained the "eternal laws of nature," in which 

 there is as little invarialjility in varieties as in 

 species. "In this respect," he continues, "it 

 is not in the blossom, but in the sexual or- 

 gans where stability rests. If it were other- 

 wise, on what would animal life depend for 

 subsistence V Suppose that all vegetation 

 were to change sex and become abortive for 

 one year only. What an awful desolation 

 would ensue 1 It was only the wise foresight 

 of our Maker which renders these laws un- 

 changeable." I quote him, because in part he 

 is correct ; but it mainly refers to that law of 

 consekvatism which is divinely estaljlished 

 amid a varied influence, each also governed by 

 law that operates in nature. Yet, " thus far 

 Shalt thou go and no further. " So the case with 

 Job and Satan. Limits are set, but deviations 

 are permitted, for good and wise reasons, no 

 doubt. Mr. Elder also says : " All cultivators 

 of the soil should study botany, at least so fiir 

 as reproducti(in is concerned, and it would en- 

 lighten their paths many times Avhen they 

 grope in the darkness without it. If agricul- 

 tural periodicals, as well as horticultural, had 

 departments of botany, and publishers-eidisted 

 the assistance of scientific botanists, they 

 would be doubly remunerated for their extra 

 expense by increased circulation and the addi- 

 tional price their journal would command. 

 The knowledge conveyed through such papers 

 would be tenfold more beneficial tlian whole 

 books on the subject, as no more information 

 would l)e given in any one numl)er than an 

 intelligent cidtivator could study and compre- 

 hend in a mouth, and by such instructions," 

 &c., perhaps putting the matter a little 

 stronger in his conciusions than I would be 

 willing to endorse ; yet there is great force in 

 what he says. I would like to quote him at 

 large on the Strawberry question, between a 

 certain "trio" and himself, called an "old 

 fogy" by them. 



Let us look into some of the many cases of 

 abortion in reproduction. If there is "much 

 rain or humidity in the atmosphere while the 

 plants are in bloom, the pollen gets clogged in 



the anthers and fails to impregnate the pistils, 

 which proves abortion. High winds at the 

 time the i>ollen is matured, carries it off and 

 causes a failure ; frost may blight the pollen, 

 and the sun may scald it, and prevent repro- 

 duction. If a plant is in an over-luxuriant 

 state of growth, its succulency either destroys 

 the albumen or carries it off towards the en- 

 largement of the jtlant, and prevents the for- 

 mation of pollen. Want of sufficient light and 

 air has a like effect. Wm. R. Prince, I^ong- 

 worth. Elder, Hanson, Mehan, G. W. Hunts- 

 man, etc., were mixed up in the question. 

 One party claimed that stamens were turned 

 to pistils. Walter Elder says : 



" Whenever coliesion turns about, 



And ' pulls Newton's apple off the tree,' 

 Then stamens may lieeome pistils, 

 Or pistils the contrary," &c. 

 He concludes nine verses of eight lines each as 

 follows : 



" Let all your plants prove themselves, 

 (Keep them tree of weeds), 

 And those will be hermaphrodites 

 Of themselves that bear good seeds. 



He affirms " that pistillates can set fruit, for 

 it has been tried and proven." That Mr. 

 Huntsman says that it is not the fact that 

 there can be jiistillate and staminate plants of 

 the same variety — which was disproved by Mr. 

 Meehan's plants of McAvoy'sstrawterry hav- 

 ing two scapes from one root — one bearing 

 pistillate, the other staminate blossoms. That 

 fact can't l)e denied, for a plant was seen by 

 the editor of the Farm Journal. Moreover, 

 they were of the true kind, for the committee 

 of which Dr. Brinckle wascliairman, awarded 

 a premium for fruit grown on these plants." 

 The pistillates and staminates among the wild 

 strawberries are, no doubt, frequent, hence 

 some insist that the true character of the 

 plant is monoecious— rather than polygamous 

 or hermaphrodite. Now, Indiana com is 

 monceaous, the tassel, the staminate and the 

 pistils, the silk to the grains of corn developed 

 in the ear. I have seen, on several occasions, 

 actual grains of corn and abortive ears mixed 

 with the staminate tassel— this is more mar- 

 velous than in the strawben-y. Hemp is dif£- 

 cious, tecause the male and female flowera are 

 born on ditterent plants, when, on the con- 

 trary, some plants have the three kind of 

 flowers, those having stamens only, and others 

 pistils only, while some have lx)th stamens and 

 pistils, actually perfect or hermaphrodite. On 

 the strawberry question I have never yet in- 

 spected a so-called pistilate flower that I did 

 not discover the rudiments of the abortive 

 stamens adhering to the calyx, evidently sup- 

 pressed, tei-med abortion. Causes for such 

 abortions have already l>een given, but there 

 are, or is a natural force, that acts two-fold, 

 like in the magnet with which you can repel 

 or attract a needle, it simply depends upon 

 the needle's magnetic relation to the acting 

 force. There are hidden operating causes 

 underlying the apparent ones that the micro- 

 scope cannot reach, and by simply looking at 

 the result, and a superficial view of the mat- 

 ter will lead to very conflicting theories, and 

 once wc can clearly understand the relation of 

 soil, climate, and the stimulus that acts on 

 the various tissues to develope them, and also 

 have some conception of the subtle force given 

 out by light and heat, and the special action 

 muler given conditions, then will we be able 

 to solve these knotty questions truly ; so far • 

 we can only do so theoretically. But let us 

 have facts and then draw conciusions. 



In studying books we find much given as 

 facts and truth that clasli with each other. 

 Wlien the great Patrick Henry was in the prime 

 of life some friend of his suggested to him the 

 propriety of studying certain authors, to which 

 he made answer—" Books are very useful for 

 instructing the young, and I have lieen much 

 benefitted by them, but now I must gather 

 knowledge from experience, and read men and 

 things— the world is my book." So with 

 horticulturalists. The field, the garden and 

 the growing vegetation is a book ever open 

 befoie them ; learn enough of established and 

 known principles and apply them to the facts, 



