778 



HOVEY 



edge of varieties. Straightway he began assiduously 

 to collect varieties, until he exhibited pears, apples and 

 camellias by the hundreds, and plums, grapes, chrysan- 

 themums and many other things by the score. These 

 things were shown before the Massachusetts Horticul- 





1105. Bluets Houstoma caerulea (X%) . 

 (See Houstonia, p. 777.) 



tural Society, which was the center of horticultural 

 influence of'the country. He raised many seedlings. 

 Thuya Hovey i is still prized as a garden conifer. His 

 greatest contribution to horticultural varieties was the 

 Hovey strawberry, which first fruited in 1836, and 

 which is generally regarded as the starting-point of 

 American commercial strawberry - growing (see Fig. 

 1088). For many years this berry was the standard of 

 market excellence. Mr. Hovey continued to grow it and 

 cherish it until the end. The writer remembers with 

 what enthusiasm he expatiated on its virtues but a very 

 few years before his death. Mr. Hovey was long an act- 

 ive member, and for a time president, of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society. He was one of the active 

 projectors of the building which gave the Society a new 

 and more commodious home. The history of the society 

 records that, when the project was in doubt, "the per- 

 severance and determination of the president of the 

 society and chairman of the building committee, Charles 

 M. Hovey, triumphed over every hindrance, and carried 

 the work on to success." 



A portrait of Mr. Hovey will be found in the first vol- 

 ume of the "Fruits of America." Another occurs in 

 "Gardeners' Monthly" for 1886 (frontispiece) and 

 "American Garden," Nov., 1887; and a reduction of this 

 appears in Fig. 1106. L H g 



H6WEA (named for Lord Howe's Island, where these 

 2 species grow). Also written Howeia. Palmacece. A 

 genus of only 2 species, known to the trade as Kentias, 

 and certainly ranking among the 6 most popular palms 

 for house culture. They have the habit of Kentia, but 

 their fls. differ widely. Howea belongs to a subtribe in 

 which the fls. in each spadix are attached to the stem 

 between the bases of opposite Ivs., while Kentia belongs 

 to another subtribe in which the fls. are attached at a 

 lower point. Also Howea has symmetrical staminate fls. 

 with rotund sepals, while in Kentia the staminate fls. 

 are not symmetrical, the sepals being small and acute. 



HOWEA 



Howea's nearest cultivated ally is Linospadix, from 

 which it is distinguished by the following characters: 

 staminate fls. with very numerous stamens, the anthers 

 erect and fastened at the base: pistillate fls. with no 

 staminodes : ovule erect. H. Uelmoreana is the more 

 popular of the two species, and as a house plant may be 

 readily told from H. Forsteriana by the more nearly 

 erect position of its leaf segments; those of H. For- 

 steriana are more pendent. Howeas are erect, spineless 

 palms, with stout ringed caudex : Ivs. terminal, nu- 

 merous, dense, equally pinnatisect: segments narrow, 

 acuminate: spadices 2-3 ft. long, solitary or 3-5 from 1 

 spathe, thick, cylindrical, nodding or penchilous: pedun- 

 cle long, compressed at the base: spathe solitary, as 

 long as the spadix, cylindrical, 2-keeled toward the 

 apex, longitudinally split: bracts bordering the chan- 

 nels; bractlets scaly: fls. sunk in the deep furrows of 

 the spadix, the staminate nearly an inch long: fr. 1% in. 

 long, olive-shaped. 



Belmoreana, Becc. (K6ntia Belmoreana, F. Muell.). 

 CURLY PALM. Fig. 1107. Described and distinguishec 

 above. B.M. 7018. R.H. 1897:256 and p. 257; G.C. III. 

 8:75. I. H. 21:191. A.G. 13:141; 16.345. Mn. 9:25.-Var. 

 variegata, Hort. Adv, 1895 by Pitcher & Manda. 



Forsteriana, Becc. (Kentia Forsteriana, F. Muell.). 

 FLAT or THATCH LEAF PALM. G.C. III. 8:75 and 533. 

 S.H. 2:53. A.G. 16:346. A.F. 4:565; 14:701. 



JARED G. SMITH and W. M. 



The two species of this genus are beyond a doubt the 

 most popular and also the most satisfactory palms ii 

 the trade for decorative work in general, and in const 

 quence of the great and growing demand, are grown bj 

 tens of thousands in the large nurseries. There doe 

 not seem to be any record of either of these species hav- 

 ing borne fruit in cultivation in this country, and the 

 trade, therefore, depends on imported seeds, which 

 gathered in immense quantities on Lord Howe's Islam 

 usually shipped from thence to Sydney, N. S. W., anc 

 from the latter port to either London or New Yorl 

 This long voyage is a severe test of the vitality of sue 

 seeds, and frequently results in faulty germination, th( 

 average of germination seldom exceeding 50 per cent 

 and is often much less. Two heavy shipments 

 Howea seeds are made each year, the first installmei 

 arriving in February or March, and the second in Sej 

 tember or October. Many growers favor the autumi 

 shipment of these seeds as giving the best results, 

 seeds should be sown at once on their arrival, the pr 

 tice followed by large growers being that of broadcast 

 ing the seeds on a side-bench in a warm greenhouse or 

 2 to 3 inches of light soil, then covering them with 

 inch of the same compost, watering liberally and keei 

 ing up a bottom heat of about 80. Under such treat 

 ment some of the seeds may germinate in two months 

 but others in the same lot may not start for eight 



1106. Charles M. Hovey. 



nine months, from which it will be seen that the oper 

 tion extends over a considerable period of time. Tin 

 seedlings should be potted into small pots when the 

 first leaf is expanded, kept moist and given a night 

 temperature of 65, the greenhouse in which they 



