328 THE FLORIST AND 



flowers, is furnished with pistils and stamens ; chance seedlings produce 

 under a high state of cultivation flowers in which the stamens are abortive; 

 left to themselves, they return to their natural condition of flowers with perfect 

 parts. The pistillate flowers of "improved varieties" are degenerations, 

 the results which Mr. Downing and Meehan as well as many others have 

 observed are merely nature exerting her forces to mend what a "high state 

 of cultivation," and so on, has made faulty. 



If Mr. Prince's article were not so longer if it had any scientific bearing of 

 imparted any instruction on the subject we should have copied it ; but as it is* 

 we can only say that for his sake we regret that the Farm Journal has so large 4 

 a circulation and so many readers. 



Since writing the above we have received the letter of Mr. Longworth, 

 in which, as will be seen he makes the same admission alluded to by the' 

 Editor of the Farm Journal; "I saw no reason to doubt, that a plant 

 strongly pistillate may be produced, bearing a few staminate or herma- 

 phrodite blossoms." He adds " what bearing has this on the question of 

 changing the character of staminate or pistillate by cultivation ?" Just a^ 

 much as the fact that the Editor of the Florist's having no experience in 

 strawberry raising has to do with the fact that the change is possible. 

 When Mr. Meehan and Mr. Downing produced pistillate plants ( for n'O' 

 other reason, at least in Meehan's case for declaring them " not Hovey's," 

 than that they had evident stamens,) the cry was "the thing is impossible" 

 now Mr. Longworth has acknowledged that it is possible ; I cannot find 

 that any one has said that a full crop can be produced without staminates 

 being planted among the pistillate ; even Mr. Meehan announced that the 

 plants from which he took his runners were so pistillate that he was obliged 

 to procure a staminate plant to fertilize them. Whether in the advance' 

 of horticultural science, the possibility of retarding or developing any part 

 of a plant, the stamens or the pistils, the petals or the leaves, may not be' 

 arrived at, who shall say ? But before that is done we shall have to do* 

 away with all talk of "impossible things," and when anything is presented 

 for our dissent or approval examine whether it be reasonable or not,- with- 

 out at once stigmatising it as either impossible or nonsensical. 



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