238 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



varieties increased rapidly both in this country and in 

 Europe, varieties of the former species seeming to be bet- 

 ter adapted to the climate of Europe, while those of the 

 latter are preferred in this country. 



The wild berry is vastly superior to most of the new 

 varieties, which the mania for size, regardless of the more 

 valuable qualities of flavor, and aroma, has developed. 



All the wild species and most of the improved varieties 

 have perfect flowers. They contain both stamens and 

 pistils, and are termed hermaphrodite flowers. In the 

 strawberry, the numerous pistils are crowded upon a 

 rounded body in the centre of the flower, called the re- 

 ceptacle. Immediately around these are the numerous 

 stamens. As soon as the pistils are fertilized by the pol- 

 len from the stamens, they begin to grow, and the lower 

 part of each one ripens into a diminutive, bony, one- 

 seeded nutlet, which popularly passes for the seed, and 

 it is convenient, for the sake of brevity, to call it so. As 

 the pistils themselves, after fertilization, begin to ripen, 

 the receptacle on which they are placed begins to grow, 

 and at length becomes the juicy, fine flavored mass with 

 which we are familiar as the strawberry, though in struc- 

 ture it is not the fruit, but merely an appendage to the 

 proper fruits. Unless the pistil is fructified by the pollen 

 of the same, or of some other flower, through the medium 

 of insects or of the wind, it must remain sterile, or fruit- 

 less, or "blind." The flowers of some of the improved va- 

 rieties, particularly those originating in this country, are 

 entirely without stamens, or have them imperfectly devel- 

 oped. Such are the " pistillate" varieties, as for instance 

 the old "Hovey's Seedling," and the later "Crescent." 

 Having no stamens, they must be fertilized by pollen 

 from other flowers and we must plant at least one row 

 of a perfect variety to each ten rows of the pistillate 

 kind, for that to become fruitful. There are many dis- 

 advantages connected with the cultivation of these pistil- 



