Report of its Transactions^ ^'C. 309 



" The minority of the committee think that sufficient experiments have 

 not yet been made, to demonstrate fully the truth of this opinion. 



" Your committee, therefore, relying upon their own experiments, and 

 those made by other cultivators, freely state, that to insure an abundant pro- 

 duct of large fruit, the principle of hybridizing must be adopted, and such 

 varieties selected to bear fruit as exhibit the female organs or pistils largely 

 developed, with the male organs or stamens, defective or undeveloped. To 

 fertilize the female plant with the necessary pollen, the pistillate plants 

 must be accompanied in the same bed, or near to it, with male or staminate 

 plants. 



"This rule being strictly observed, in all favorable seasons abundant 

 crops will reward the careful cultivator. 



" As further evidence that this is the most successful mode for the culti- 

 vation of the strawberry, your committee beg leave to refer to the quantity 

 of strawberries sold in the Cincinnati market this season, which were fur- 

 nished principally by those who have adopted the system of planting female 

 or pistillate plants, with a proportion of about one tenth male or staminate 

 plants for fertilizing. 



" The amount sold has been ascertained by a committee appointed by the 

 Horticultural Society. The committee reported the quantity in market 

 each day during the most productive portion of the strawberry season, com- 

 mencing on the 19th of May and ending on the l2th of June — a period of 

 22 days — in which time they state the aggregate amount at 4,150 bushels, 

 being an average of nearly 200 bushels per day. Other estimates make 

 the quantity much greater. 



"This product of fruit, compared with other markets, and the quantity 

 of ground cultivated, furnishes conclusive evidence of the success in attend- 

 ing to the cultivation of staminate and pistillate varieties." 



The report is signed by Jacob Hoflher, W. Smith, R. Bu- 

 chanan, George Graham, A. H. Ewing, A. H. Ernst, J. G. 

 Anthony, S. Mosher, S. S. Jackson. 



We entirely agree with the opinion of the committee, with 

 one exception, and that the last paragraph of the 4th proposi- 

 tion, in which they state that those " varieties (the male or 

 staminate with the pistils imperfect) have a strong growth, 

 producing vigorous runners, and when planted with pistil- 

 late plants, within two or three years, they occupy all the 

 ground," &c. &c. 



Now, we do not know what varieties the committee allude 

 to ; we have tried every sort introduced into the country, and 

 never have yet seen any varieties which would displace either 

 Hovey's Seedling or the Boston Pine ; and we venture to 

 assert, notwithstanding the views of the committee, that, if 



