32 



to start a strawberry " boom," and go into the " Jumbo" and 

 " Big Booby " business, all the conditions must be most favora- 

 ble. Especially avoid a plot for a bed of seedlings liable to be 

 covered by standing water, or sheets of ice in winter, as either 

 will be sure death to the plants. Both the bottom and surface 

 drainage should be perfect. A mulch of straw, not too heavy, 

 and a few evergreen boughs over all, will carry the plants safely 

 through. 



The directions here given will be a sufficient guide to those 

 who may attempt the production of new varieties by hybridizing 

 or crossing a process fully described below. 



HYBRIDIZING AND CROSSING. 



In every flower, in its natural state, we find what are known; 

 to botanists as stamens and pistil. These are the male and fe- 

 male organs, and seeds, when present, are the offspring or 

 true fruit. Under cultivation the stamens often diminish in 



Fig. 6. 



Fig. 7 



Fig. 8. 



number, are very imperfectly developed, and sometimes are en- 

 tirely absent. As an illustration, I here give a very good rep- 

 resentation of the strawberry flower of each class. 



Fig. 6 represents the perfect flower as we find it growing 

 wild, having the pistil and the stamens fully developed. Fig. 7 

 shows the flower with the stamens imperfectly developed, and 



