132 CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 



bearer. Here is the old story. I am convinced it will be 

 found to be staminate, and of no value to our market gar- 

 deners for a general crop. It may be pistillate, and its bad 

 bearing caused by the absence of staminate plants. If so, it 

 will be very valuable. Certain it is, it will not be found 

 perfect in both organs. 



In a late number of the Farmer and Mechanic it is said: 

 "Foreign strawberries are unproductive about Boston, and 

 the only ones now cultivated are the Wood, Early Scarlet, 

 and Hovey's Seedlings. That three cultivators near Boston 

 sent four thousand five hundred quarts to market in a single 

 season.*' What will our market gardeners say to this? The 

 Wood strawberry is thought by them to be worthless, and 

 not a quart was ever sold in our market. Its only merit is, 

 that its blossom is said to be perfect in both male and female 

 organs. The Early Scarlet is raised to some extent ; but 

 four-fifths of all the strawberries sold in our market are the 

 Necked Pine and Hudson ; mostly the latter. Mr. Culbertson 

 brings more strawberries to our market than any other per- 

 son. The greatest quantity he has brought in any single day 

 was four thousand quarts ; and not one of the kinds named 

 in the Farmer and Mechanic among them. All Avere the 

 Hudson. By properly understanding the true character of 

 the plant, Mr. Culbertson has been able to gather nearly as 

 many quarts in a single day as three Boston cultivators were 

 able to do in a whole season. I saw an editorial article in a 

 recent eastern horticultural paper, speaking in high terms of 

 the Alpine strawberry, as raised by a Col. Stoddert, and its 

 great produce, which yielded him, at 12J cents per quart, 

 upward of 81,600 to the acre. It is an indifterent fruit, and 

 never yielded one-fourth the quantity. 



Can Hovey's Seedling, or any other large-fruited pistillate 

 strawberry, be impregnated by the Alpine Monthly ? It is 

 my impression that they are distinct species, and that it can- 

 not be done. If it can, a cross might be produced that, with 



