STRAWBERRY. 167 



At the meeting in 1849 of the National Congress of 

 Fruit-growers, the following varieties were recomraend- 

 ed as the very best for culture, namely : Large Early 

 Scarlet, Hovey's Seedling, Boston Pine ; and, as giving 

 promise of being worthy to be added to the list, Burr's 

 New Pine, and Jenney's Seedling. 



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 Yirginia and some other 

 varieties of the strawberry, 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-ihe 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 counted 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 ofi", and the ground tilled with either the 

 hoe, plough or cultivator. 



Strawberry 'plants are commonly designated as male 

 arid female, and it is of great importance to understand 

 haw to distinguish these apart, since a bed with too 

 large a proportion of male plants will prove very unpro- 

 ductive. The distinction can be readily made when in 



