46 ON THE SCIENTIFIC CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 



or female plants — neither of which, by itself, will bear a single berry — and 

 Hermaphrodites, or plants in which the male organs are perfect, and the 

 female organs more or less imperfect. It is said, and has been particularly 

 insisted on in respect to certain varieties (especially amongst the white 

 kinds), that some of these hermaphrodites possess both the male and female 

 organs in perfection ; but, although entertaining a strong doubt upon that 

 point ourselves, we are nevertheless quite aware, that, in particular in- 

 stances, they do possess female organs very nearly perfect, sufficiently so, 

 indeed, to lead to the common belief. On the other hand, we know that, 

 in the great majority of cases, so very imperfect are the female organs in 

 these hermaphrodites, that they seldom produce other than a very scanty 

 crop of inferior and imperfect berries. 



The most vigorous of all are the staminates, or pure males, abounding 

 in large flowers, and sending out a profusion of runners ; the pistillates 

 flower very abundantly, but have small blossoms, and very few runners ; 

 the hermaphrodites bear a medium sized flower, and throw out numerous 

 strong runners. 



For the purposes of the high-priced strawberry grower, the better kinds 

 of hermaphrodites may and do answer admirably well, seeing that their 

 object is to obtain only a few very large-sized berries on each plant ; but, 

 place these same plants in an open field, deprive them of their finely pre- 

 pared mould, and their hand-glasses, their artificial impregnation, and the 

 unremitting care and watchfulness of their human attendants, and the truth 

 would soon become apparent : they would be dead failures. In a word, for 

 a general crop they are quite unsuitable. 



About the year 1809, the celebrated horticulturist, Keen, from amongst 

 his seedlings, picked out all those which had borne a heavy crop of fruit, 

 and planted them in a bed by themselves, quite apart from those that had 

 proved sterile, or had borne but lightly. Spring came, and with it his pet 

 seedlings put forth a profusion of bloom, but his surprise was intense when 

 he saw that there was no swelling whatever for fruit. His intelligent mind 

 prompted a critical examination of the flowers, and then he discovered that 

 the pistils, or female organs, were perfect, but that there were no stamens, 

 or male organs ; consequently, that his famous fruit-bearers were pistillates, 

 or pure females. Having thus stumbled upon a very important discovery, 

 his next step was to examine his other seedlings, and, finding that they 

 possessed male organs in perfection, he plucked a number of their flowers, 

 placed them in phials of water, and suspended these in different directions 

 immediately over his bed of pistillates. His experiment was eminently 

 successful ; the pistillates began immediately to swell for fruit, and every 

 blossom produced its berry. 



These celebrated plants were known under the name of " Keen's seed- 

 ling," but it is doubtful if they are in existence at this day, the variety so 

 called now being a very favourite hermaphrodite, and not a pistillate. The 

 reason for this is not difficult of explanation. Fine bearing pistillate plants 

 are carefully removed from all others, and planted by themselves, perhaps, 



