138 CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 



every instance, as it was possible to render them ; hence, it 

 may be safely assumed, that they have now sufficient data 

 and abounding testimony to prove the postulates they intend 

 to lay down in this report. The whole subject has been so 

 ably and so frequently explained to this society and commu- 

 nity that there is nothing new left for your Committee, who 

 only reiterate truths well established and generally admitted 

 among us. 



After carefully collating and reviewing the facts which they 

 have observed and recorded, the Committee present the fol- 

 lowing conclusions or postulates, which have been deduced 

 from their united observations : 



1. That there are many different varieties of the Straw- 

 berry, which are characterized, in part, by the foliage, pubes- 

 cence, mode of growth, and fruit, and, also, by their inflo- 

 rescence. 



2. That the varieties in inflorescence (the most important 

 to the cultivator) consist in the greater or less development 

 of the stamens and pistils, respectively, upon which are 

 based our terms and classification, " staminate" and "pistil, 

 late," or, more familiarly with the mass of cultivators, male 

 and female. (See page 123.) 



3. That these classes are permanent aberrations from what 

 the great Linnaeus considered the normal condition of this 

 genus of plants, as of its natural family Rosacea. 



4. That nearly all botanists (and among them our most 

 enlightened modern writers) have overlooked the important 

 error of Linnaeus, and have simply copied after him in their 

 descriptions of the strawberry, without verifying for them- 

 selves ; while a plain, unlettered market gardener, but a prac- 

 tical and observing man, discovered* the important fact, that 



* "We say " discovered," because we are unable to learn that Mr. 

 'Arbegust ever heard of Mr. Keen or M. Duchesne, or that he was at all 

 in the way of reading anything upon the subject. 



