188 THE FLORIST AND 



that we are no longer at liberty to decline its investigation. In the paper 

 read before the Society, and referred to in his letter to the Committee, he broad- 

 ly asserts that Hovey's Seedling may be sfaminate or pistillate, at pleasure, 

 by cultivation. In proof of this assertion, he exhibited three plants, each 

 in a separate pot — one having none but pistillate blossoms; the second none 

 but hermaphrodite blossoms; the third containing blossoms some of which 

 were pistillate and the others hermaphrodite ; and these several sexual dif- 

 ferences he attributed entirely to cultivation. Now, if each one of these 

 three plants was a genuine Hovey's Seedling, Mr Meehan has most unques- 

 tionably and conclusively established the truth of the doctrine for which he 

 contends. The vital question, then, to be solved is, was each of these plants 

 a genuine Hovey's Seedling ? This point we will now examine. In the 

 communication to the Society no evidence of their genuineness is presented, 

 apart from the simple statement that they were Hovey's Seedling. On this 

 point, however, the letter to the Committee does not leave us so much in 

 the dark. So far, however, from establishing their genuineness, it furnishes 

 strong grounds for a contrary belief. For in it Mr. Meehan gives us their 

 history in the following words: "When I took charge of this establishment, 

 (Springbrook,) in 1852, a large plantation of strawberries had been made 

 the preceding fall, and which were given up to me as a new bed of Hovey's 

 Seedling." Subsequently, in speaking of the plants in this bed, he emphati- 

 cally assures us "there were no others on the place." This bed then was 

 the source whence Mr. Meehan obtained the plants with which he experi- 

 mented. ^n& the only evidence he had that they were Hovey's Seedling 

 was that they were given up to him as such. In this stage of the investiga- 

 tion it is of some consequence to know whether this bed was made by a per- 

 son in whose honesty and accuracy implicit confidence could be reposed. 

 It is known that Thomas Ryan's successor, and Mr. Meehan's immediate 

 predecessor, was gardener to Mr. Cope in the fall of 1851, when the above 

 mentioned bed was set out ; but we question whether Mr Cope or Mr. Mee- 

 han will say that he was entitled to such confidence. It is a matter of re- 

 cord that there were a number of varieties at Springbrook the year before. 

 On referring to the proceedings of our Society for March, 1850, it will be 

 seen that Ben Daniels exhibited a "bed" containing the following six vari- 

 eties of strawberries, viz : Hovey's Seedling, British Queen, Buist's Early 

 May, Keen's Seedling, Sciota, and Cushing. At that meeting the proceed- 

 ings also show that the Fruit Committee awarded " a special premium of ten 

 dollars to Ben Daniels, gardener to C. Cope, for the magnificent display of 

 strawberries, embracing several foreign and native varieties." It is barely 



