G30 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



ing- all that has been said and written on this subject, the English still 

 adhere to the idea of the non-sexuality of the strawberry, and say that 

 nature had made a mistake in making two kinds, so that for the last sixty 

 years it has been a common practice in Europe to eradicate the male 

 strawberry plant, so that now a perfect crop of this fruit is unknown there, 

 and in order to produce any kind of a respectable crop all the flowers but 

 one or two have to be taken off. The inferior yield of this fruit in Europe 

 is solely in consequence of the destruction of the male plant. If we here 

 destroyed the female plant it would have the same result. The European 

 and American strawberry can never be hybridized, but the South and 

 North American species can. Some fifteen years ag'o Pi'of. Huntsman and 

 himself succeeded in hybridizing them, they produced most beautiful flow- 

 ers but bore no fruit. 



Mr. R. G. Pardee said his experience in raising strawberries seemed to 

 be somewhat difierent to others. He had been given some plants to try in 

 his garden, merely as an experiment, and at that time he knew very little 

 about their cultm'e. He plowed the earth some 2| to 3 feet deep, and put 

 in the plants, and in the following spring they produced monstrous heads; 

 but having succeeded so well at the commencement he thought he would 

 try and improve on the next. With this view he commenced raking in the 

 manure, and he thought he had the ground in the best possible condition 

 for the following spring. In due time the}' came forth, and their foliage 

 was of the most massive kind, but the result was that they did not have 

 hardly any fruit. This perplexed him very much, and for 8 years he tried 

 to solve the problem. He consulted the late Mr. Downing and others, and 

 at one time he had a man employed for two days on a bed of some 20 feet 

 square. After thoroughly plowing the soil and mixing the old with the 

 new, he found to his surprise that they bore profusely. His error was in 

 feeding his plants too highly, in which case they would bloom beautifully, 

 but would bear no fruit. With less stimulants and the application of bark 

 and ashes he got his soil to its original productiveness. He then kept a 

 record of what it cost to raise them, and found that his strawberries cost 

 him fifty cents a bushel, and on a bed of fifty by sixty feet he picked fifteen 

 bushels. The strawberry is one of the most delightful fruits that can be 

 cultivated. He raised some of four and four and a half inches in circumfe- 

 rence. Next to good soil is having fine plants. To get these is very diffi- 

 cult. Barren plants are not only unproductive but they also destroy what- 

 ever good ones near which they may be placed. He used ashes very largely 

 and also swamp muck, which he decomposed with salt. A proportion of a 

 bushel of lime to a bushel of salt will decompose manure very quickly. 



A very large display of cut flowers from the nursery of Mr, Wm. R. 

 Prince, adorned the tables. Their names and peculiarities were explained 

 by him, after which they were made up into bouquets and preserited to the 

 ladies. 



After selecting fruits of the season for the next discussion, the associa- 

 tion adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



