The Second Co)igress of Fruit Growei's. 303 



variety was superior in bearing qualities to any that he had 

 seen. 



Mr. Hovey remarked that he had preferred to hear what 

 others had to say of this strawberry, rather than to speak of 

 it himself. It had been exceedingly gratifying to him to 

 hear so many commendations of his two strawberries — the 

 Seedling and the Boston Pine. Gentlemen were present 

 from the remotest parts of the country, and they unanimously 

 agreed upon their excellence. The Boston Pine was raised 

 at the same time, and from the same lot of seed, as the 

 Hovey Seedling, in 1834. But after selecting the latter 

 variety, so many others remained of promising quality — and 

 the quantity of land at command being rather limited — that it 

 took some time to give them all, successively, a trial — and it 

 was not until 1844 or '45 that the Boston Pine was first 

 offered to the public. That was its origin. 



Mr. H. said he would embrace this opportunity to say a 

 few words in regard to the cultivation of the Boston Pine. 

 One gentleman had remarked that he cultivated his vines in 

 hills ; another, his in beds ; others, theirs in rows — and all 

 had succeeded equally well. But as one gentleman had said 

 that he did not exactly understand what was meant by cul- 

 tivating in hills, he would briefly explain. 



Gentlemen were probably aware that Hovey's Seedling, 

 the Early Virginia, and other varieties, rarely produced more 

 than three or four trusses of fruit to each root, and then, 

 when grown thickly in beds, produced very good crops. 

 This, however, was not the case with the Boston Pine, 

 generally — the constitutional tendency of the plant being to 

 produce ten or twelve trusses of fruit to each root. One 

 hundred and fifty berries had been counted on a single plant, 

 as the President could testify. The consequence was that 

 when the vines occupied all the ground, there was a defici- 

 ency of nourishment, and the berries did not fill up. Hence 

 had arisen many failures in the cultivation of this variety. 

 It required more room than other strawberries, and when 

 grown in rows, with a space of a foot or more between, and 

 that space well manured, the crop was one of the most abun- 



