No. 8. 



Sexual character of the Strawberry Plant 



257 



worked by a dog-power machine, on the out- 

 side of the building. The milk room should 

 be used exclusively for dairy purposes. 



Dairy Utensils. — The cows are milked 

 into wooden pails, not pjfinted on the inside, 

 and kept perfectly neat and sweet. They 

 must be thoroughly cleansed, dried, and 

 aired, morning and evening; and never be 

 used for any other purpose. The pans 

 should be shallow, with the sides much 

 more slanting than tiie usual pattern of pans 

 which we see at the tin shops, and be kept 

 as bright as silver; they must also be well 

 aired in the sun. 



The Milk. — This must stand in the pans, 

 undisturbed, until the whole of the cream 

 has risen ; — some of our best dairy-women 

 say, until it is " loppered," or thick, — both 

 milk and cream are then put into the churn 

 together, at a temperature of about fifty-five 

 of Fahrenheit; the churn is then worked 

 ; with a rapid stroke, say from 60 to 75 per 

 , minute, until the butter "begins to come," 

 when the brake is put upon the wheel, and 

 tlie churn is worked more and more mode- 

 rately, until the butter is entirely separated 

 from the butter-milk. Upon taking the but- 

 ter from the churn, it is washed with cold 

 water, salted, and thoroughly worked with 

 a wooden ladle, upon the marble table. It 

 must never be worked with the hand, as the 

 warmth of the hand will injure it. It is 

 then set aside in a cool place, until the next 

 day, when it is again, in like manner, worked 

 until every drop of the butter-milk is ex- 

 tracted. It is then fit for packing away, or 

 ' for use. The butter must at no time be al- 

 ■ lowed to get soft. Frederick J. Betts. 

 I Newburg, Dec. ]2th, 1843. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sexual character of the StraAvberry 

 Plant. 



My Dear Sir, — The December No. of 

 the Farmers' Cabinet, contains an able paper 

 by Dr. Bayne, of Alexandria, on the Culti- 

 vation of the Strawberry. After giving 

 ample directions as to the best mode of pre- 

 paring the ground and forming the beds, he 

 advises that the finest and most productive 

 varieties should be selected, such as Hovey's 

 Seedling, Female Hudson Bay, Large Lima, 

 Bishop's Orange, and Bayne's Prolific. Be- 

 lieving that every flower of the above kinds 

 is female, he says they will fail to yield 

 abundant crops, unless planted in proximity 

 with the Melon, or some other variety con- 

 taining perfect anthers. 



To this paper of Dr. Bayne's, is appended 

 a series of remarks by the editor of Hovey's 

 Magazine, in which the writer attempts to 



prove that " there is no necessity of making 

 any distinction in regard to the sexual cha- 

 racter of the plants when forming new 

 beds;" "and this," he says, "is now the 

 generally received opinion of all intelligent 

 cultivators." 



The little attention I have bestowed on 

 this subject, has fully satisfied me, that the 

 generally received opinion on this point, is 

 erroneous. Mr. Hovey does not deny, that 

 "there may be fertile and sterile beds of 

 strawberries, but the cause of their sterile 

 character," he says, " is to be sought, not in 

 a naturally defective organization of the 

 blossom, but rather in the mode of cultiva- 

 tion applied to the plants." There is a 

 little vagueness in the phraseology of this 

 sentence. Does Mr. Hovey intend to con- 

 vey the idea, that an improper mode of cul- 

 tivation will render strawberry plants sterile 

 by causing the blossom to be defective in its 

 sexual organization? or does he mean, that 

 such a mode of culture will render the 

 plants sterile without impairing the sexual 

 character of the blossom? He probably 

 means the former; for he immediately adds, 

 "It is well known that all flowers have a 

 tendency to become double, and when this 

 takes place, it is also known that the sta- 

 mens are transformed into petals." This 

 remark cannot apply to the strawberry ; for 

 who ever saw ort heard of a double straw- 

 berry flower! The nearest approach to it 

 I ever met with, was in Turner's late Pine. 

 In the blossom of this variety, I have seen 

 eight petals; even here, however, the sta- 

 mens were unusually perfect. Mr. Hovey 

 is wrong in saying, that all flowers have a 

 tendency to become double. If he had said 

 some flowers, or many flowers, have this 

 tendency, his remark would have been un- 

 exceptionable. He goes on to say, " now 

 somewhat such a change," [what change — 

 the conversion of stamens into petals]] "un- 

 doubtedly takes place in the strawberry, 

 when under a high state of cultivation, or 

 forced by too much nourishment to extend 

 its runners too far. Repletion is fatal to the 

 perfection of the blossom, though it may 

 produce apparently vigorous growth." Here 

 again, I think Mr. Hovey errs. Repletion 

 may be fatal to the production of the blos- 

 som, but not to its perfection. In other 

 words, culture will not alter or modify the 

 sexual organization of strawberry plants, 

 though it may prevent the formation of 

 fruit buds. 



The terms male and female, as applied to 

 certain kinds of strawberries, are, strictly 

 speaking, somewhat incorrect; though, for 

 practical purposes, they should be fully re- 

 cognized. 



