PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 309 



with seeming knowledge and authority, of which it may be most positively 

 asserted, that not one of them is a fair representative of the present 

 advanced stage of the Strawberry culture, or can be deemed the most profit- 

 able for market culture, or for general cultivation. And I will guarantee 

 that if Prof. Huntsman (the closest observer of all our amateurs) is 

 appealed to, he will corroborate my statement. 



Like the unfortunate Report of the Committee of 1859, this selection 

 will be laughed at by every well informed cultivator, and like to the varie- 

 ties then recommended, these six will also sink into a consequent oblivion, 

 but not until thousands of dollars shall have been spent by the deluded 

 market growers. In the proceedings at the " Fruit Growers' Club " I have 

 noticed that one member recommended that the Bonte St. Julien be one of the 

 Six, but another member objected to it as "so small a berry," whereae it 

 is larger than three of the varieties actually selected, far more beautiful 

 than the Triomphe de Gand, very sweet, of fine flavor and perfumed. Mr. 

 Williams there remarked that the Austin is superior to the Wilson, but 

 neither of these is eaten by Amateurs and even the Cat birds pass by them 

 with evident disgust. One member recommended the Fillmore, a very 

 large showy berry, but without sweetness, the most insipid of all and also 

 has a large core. Mr. Fuller spoke well of the miserable Fillmore, but 

 stated he would not recommend a Pistillate plant for general cultivation. 

 What ignorance and obstinacy ! He has denied that Pistillates are found 

 in a state of nature, and declared that they are garden monstrosities, when 

 there is not a schoolboy in all our Yankee land that cannot find plenty of 

 'them in five minutes in any forest, and when Downing, Wm. Prince, Ken- 

 drick, Longworth, Hovey, Thomas, Elliott and Hooper in their several 

 works, and everybody else that knows anything, have recognized the Pis- 

 tillate equally with the Hermaphrodite varieties as belonging to every 

 North American Species of the Fragaria family. I am prepared to prove 

 at a favorable opportunity that God and Nature are not guilty of any 

 stupid failures, and that a female plant of the Vegetable Kingdom is speci- 

 ally constituted for reproduction, and most pre-eminently so, with the 

 same unerring wisdom and perfection as is so plainly dilineated in the 

 Animal Kingdom. I am ready to prove that Pistillate varieties are the 

 only ones which can be relied upon for the most abundant crops, and that 

 their normal character is such, that there can bo no possible failure, but 

 that they must necessarily produce fifty per cent, greater crops per acre, 

 than the most prolific Hermaphrodite can \)y any possibility yield. 



As the Strawberry culture is now attaining to a vast development, it 

 is as I have already stated, no trifling matter to mislead a confiding pub- 

 lic, which looks to our difi'erent Pomological Societies for truthful and reli- 

 able information. This Association, a branch of the American Institute, 

 imparts no temporary fiickering flame, but it stands pre-eminent in our 

 Land for the permanent advancement of all great National Objects. It 

 has fostered American Industry and American Intellect in the development 

 and advancement of all the ennobling pursuits, which impart prosperity 

 and happiness to the great human family. And I trust that as in the past, 

 so in the future, it will in every respect pi'ove true to its great and mightily 

 important mission. And as it has ever been sustained in its career by 



