472 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



Propagation from Runners and Divisions. All varieties of the 

 Strawberry, except the Wood and Alpine, propagate rapidly by 

 means of runners. These, when a new variety is procured, should 

 be carefully watched, and as fast as they make joints, should be 

 pegged down, and have fine soil or sharp sand scattered over them, 

 to induce them more readily to make roots. In this way, from fifty 

 to one hundred new plants can be obtained from a single one in a 

 season. 



To secure a bed of those most prolific in old grounds, select while 

 in fruit, jtnd set stakes by side of those from which you wish to renew ; 

 after fruiting, destroy all around, thus giving them light and room to 

 form abundance of new plants. The Wood and Alpine varieties are 

 propagated easily from seed with but little variation. They are 

 also propagated by dividing the roots or cluster of roots early in the 

 Spring. 



Fertile and Barren Plants. It is an old saying that " every person 

 enjoys some hobby on which to ride." Mr. N. Longworth, of Cin- 

 cinnati, has received the credit of starting the hobby of (in common 

 phrase) male and female strawberry blossoms ; and so vigorously has 

 the hobby been ridden, that, with locomotive power and speed, it has 

 found its way into every journal in the country, whether horticultural 

 or otherwise ; and so generally is the distinction of staminate (male) 

 and pistillate (female) flowers understood, that we do not deem it 

 necessary here to re-describe. 



" The European Wood and Alpine Strawberries always maintain a 

 natural character of the blossom, no matter how cultivated, and there- 

 fore every blossom gives a perfect fruit." 



Fig. 1. 

 Sterile Staminate Blossom. 



Fig. 2. 

 Sterile Pistillate Blossom. 



Fig. 3. 

 Natural Slatt 



The " Scarlets," and " Pines," as they are classed, when grown 

 from seed in highly cultivated grounds, have a tendency to become 

 imperfect in either stamens or pistils, as the case may be, and hence 

 arises the necessity as well as apparent reality of the terms, male and 

 female. 



In the production of new varieties, even in our wildlings, the seed- 

 ling plants, by means of highly enriched and stimulating soils, in 

 exhibiting the full and even enlarged development of one organ, the 



