32$ THE FLORIST AND 



$he varieties . of the strawberry from the stem and leaf, and his 

 Hovey, when sent to the Horticultural Society at Boston, was by 

 .all pronounced not to be the Hovey. It is easy to procure evidence 

 to satisfy Mr. Meehali. He received three plants of the Extra Red 

 from Cincinnati, and one was Hermaphrodite, or not a pure pistill- 

 iate. I direct the varieties I cultivate to be kept in separate beds. 

 Yet in many of them,. from neglect or a chancq seedling I yearly 

 find many staminates, but have never yet seen one (except stami- 

 nate necked pine seedling) but could by the stem and leaf, be de- 

 tected. During forty years, I have got strawberry plants from the 

 east, and often found mixture. One of our most reliable gardeners 

 sold east a variety of our seedlings which he bought here from a 

 reliable gardener, but found to his regret, there was a great mixture. 

 Stranger still, Mr Meehan claims I have admitted a change by cul- 

 tivation, in the sexual character of the plant. He said the Extra 

 Red, with him, which is pistillate, bore some staminate blossoms, 

 I stated, that I raised the Extra Red, and that it was a pure pistil- 

 late. But as we do in raising seedlings, find an occasional Herma- 

 phrodite, that sometimes bear a few pure pistillate blossoms, I have 

 no reason to doubt, that a plant strongly pistillate might be pro- 

 duced, bearing a few staminate or Hermaphrodite blossoms. What 

 bearing has this on the question, of changing the character of a pis- 

 tillate to a staminate, by cultivation ? All I ask of Mr. Meehan, is, 

 to get either of his friends, "Mr. Buist or Dr. Brinckle, of Philadel- 

 phia, to endorse his doctrine, or get from either of them plants of 

 the Hovey, or necked pine, and satisfy them of a change by culti- 

 vation. The Editor of the Florist is severe on his correspondent, 

 Mr. Elder. I would inquire what has been the Editor's experience ? 

 Has it been for more than twenty years, and his attention directed 

 to the question, or as long as Mr. Median's, one or two years, on a 

 small scale ? I give Mr. Meehan credit, as he came from England, 

 for admitting the existence of pure staminate and pistillate plants. 

 When he has for a year operated on plants furnished by either of 

 his friends that I have named, he will promptly acknowledge his 

 error. I fear no injury from Mr. Meehan's error in the west, 

 among our strawberry growers. Men who give daily attention to 



