56 THE FLORIST AND 



cultivation will change its character, and also whether the runners will vary 

 from the parent. The person to whom I allude is Professor Huntsman of 

 Flushing, L. I. Yours, with regard. N. Longworth. 



(From Downing's Horticulturist.) 

 ♦TWO EXPERIMENTS MADE TO TEST MR. LONGWORTll'S STRAWBERRY THEORY. 



Taking Hovey's Seedling as a subject, I procured a bell-glass, and placed 

 it over an entire plant which had not bloomed. The flowers expanded well 

 under the glass, but did not produce one berry. The plant was frequently 

 agitated to put the pollen in motion, if there was any. 



I also introduced under a glass some blossom buds before they had blown. 

 These, as they successively expanded, showed no signs of swelling. I impreg- 

 nated, at different times, two of the blossoms by hand, applying the pollen 

 from another plant with a camel's hair pencil. These two set their fruit per- 

 fectly. The pistils of the other blossoms soon turned to a dark color. These 

 experiments were made at the north side of a picket fence, where the plants 

 were screened from the full effects of the sun, otherwise the heat under the 

 glasses would have been too great. 



These experiments prove to my mind very conclusively, that Hovey's Seed- 

 ling will not bear any fruit unless impregnated by some staminate variety. 

 And the same may be said of other varieties in which the stamens are obso- 

 lete. I have had some plants of the Hudson Bay for three years, in a posi- 

 tion where they cannot very easily be impregnated by other kinds, during 

 which time they have not borne one berry, while other plants of the same 

 variety, exposed, have been productive. A difference in the formation of the 

 flowers on different plants is not confined to cultivated kinds, but may be seen 

 in those growing wild in the fields, the pistillate plants of which I have often 

 examined with a magnifying glass, to see if I could discover any pollen, but 

 have never been able to find it; I am forced, therefore, to believe that pistil- 

 late plants, both wild and cultivated, are absolutely devoid of pollen, and can- 

 not, therefore, produce any fruit except when impregnated by others. 



I am also convinced, from observation and theory, that one kind will never 

 change to the other by off-sets. The runner bearing the same relation to 

 the plant producing it as a tree grown from a bud does to the tree from which 

 it was taken. It may, then, be asked, how does it happen that there are 

 pistillate and staminate plants of the same variety? I answer, it is not the 

 fact, unless they have sprung from seed, or the plants have been taken from 

 the filds in a wild state. 



That pistillate plants are surer and better bearers than staminate plants", 



