STRAWBERRY. 161 



The Alpines are small, productive, and sweet. 



The Busk Alpines are nice for borders. 



Mr. Hovey raised the Seedling which goes by his name, 

 and the celebrated Boston Pine, from the same lot of seed. 

 He states that it is the character of his Seedling, as it is of 

 the Early Virginia and some other varieties of the straw- 

 berry, rarely to produce more than three or four trusses of 

 fruit to each root, so that they require to be grown thickly 

 in beds to produce good crops. This, however, was not 

 generally the case with the Boston Pine, the tendency of 

 which is to produce ten or twelve trusses of fruit to each 

 root, so that one hundred and fifty berries had been count- 

 ed on a single plant. In consequence of this characteristic, 

 when the vines occupy all the ground, there is a deficiency 

 of nourishment and the berries do not fill up. Hence many 

 failures had occurred in the cultivation of this variety, 

 which required more room than other kinds ; when grown 

 in rows with a foot or more space left between, and that 

 space well manured, the crop was most abundant. When 

 planted in hills, one or more feet apart each way, and one 

 or more plants in each place, the runners could be kept 

 clipped off, and the ground tilled with either the hoe, 

 plough or cultivator. 



Strawberry plants are commonly designated as male and 

 female, and it is of great importance to understand how to 

 distinguish these apart, since a bed with too large a pro- 

 portion of male plants will prove very unproductive. The 

 distinction can be readily made when in flower, the blos- 

 soms of the females having an entirely green centre, whilst 

 those that exhibit a great many yellow stamens represent 

 the male, or barren plants. Such flowers as have only a 

 portion of stamens around the base of the green conical 



