6TRAWBERRY REPORT. 136 



all the ground, and the cultivator, who is ignorant of their 

 habits, generally concludes that his productive plants have 

 become barren ; when, after proper examination, he would see 

 that the pistillate plants had been displaced by the rapid 

 growth of the staminates, and the quantity of fruit propor- 

 tionably diminished. 



5. There are other varieties so defective in the pistils or 

 female organs, as to be completely sterile, and fail to produce 

 fruit, either in their native state or under the most careful 

 cultivation. 



A majority of the Committee also express the opinion, that 

 the varieties mentioned never change their character, so as to 

 be transferred from one class to another, but continue their 

 original distinction in the runners, and remain the same under 

 all circumstances of cultivation. 



The minority of the Committee think that sufficient experi- 

 ments have not yet been made, to demonstrate fully the truth 

 of this opinion. 



Your Committee, therefore, relying upon their own experi- 

 ments, and those made by other cultivators, freely state, that 

 to insure an abundant product 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 de- 

 veloped, with the male organs, or stamens, defective or unde- 

 veloped. 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 cultivation of the strawberry, your Committee beg 

 leave to refer to the quantity of strawberries sold in the Cin- 

 cinnati market this season, which were furnished principally 

 by those who have adopted the system of planting female or 



12 



