HARDINESS AND CULTURE OF STRAWBERRIES. 23 



Ml'. Moore said there were certain v'arieties that would not pro- 

 duce a single fruit if away from others. 



Mr. Wilder spoke of the late Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, 

 as one of the first to recognize the sexual character of the straw- 

 berry, and of his visiting a garden where there were a large num- 

 ber of pistillate plants, and offering a barrel of wine for a crop of 

 fruit produced by them alone. 



Williiim Gray, Jr., read from " Hovey's Magazine" (Vol. xxx., 

 p. 287) an account of his experiments, in 1863 and 4, with several 

 varieties of strawberries, which settled the fact that the large for- 

 eign varieties were not adapted to our climate. He found Oscar 

 the largest in size and best in quality of those tested. 



Charles M. Hovey said that while most strawberries will grow 

 on all soils some arg very fastidious, and instanced the seedlino-s 

 raised by the late Josiah Richardson, of Cambridge, who exhibited 

 several varieties, apparently of much merit, and whose beds made 

 a great show, but there was never any fruit of these varieties 

 shown by other cultivators, and in three or four 3'ears they had all 

 disappeared. President Wilder does not succeed with Mr. Hovey 

 on sandy land, while Jenny Lind likes a light soil ; he saw a great 

 crop on such soil in the grounds of Mr. Fay, the originator. La 

 Coustante requires clay. Hovey's Seedling succeeds generall}'-, 

 but, being pistillate, requires a fertilizer, and Boston Pine has 

 proved the best for this purpose. If properly fertilized Hovey's 

 Seedling will produce to the verj^ end of July from the tips of the 

 bunches. These late berries being few in number are not gathered, 

 and, decaying on the ground, produce seedlings; hence the only 

 way to keep Hovey's Seedling true is to make a new bed every 

 year. Much of the complaint against Hovey's Seedling is caused 

 by planting seedlings produced in this way, instead of the true 

 variet}'. The Boston Pine never gives any trouble in this way. 



Mr. Hovey referred to an article in the " Transactions of the 

 London Horticultural Society," on the sexuality of strawberries, 

 which was denied by Dr. Lindle}^, and said that he had gathered 

 wild strawberries on his own ground which were entirely pistillate. 

 The Belgians have raised many new kinds from our improved vari- 

 eties, while the English have propagated mostly or wholly from 

 the Chilian and Surinam species, gaining very large fruits, such as 

 Admiral Dundas, which grows to three inches in diameter, but is 

 somewhat tender like the parents, and very difficult to keep over 



