264 THE FLORIST AND 



BOTANICAL THOUGHTS ON THE STRAWBERRY QUESTION. 



I observe in your last number, that you seek the opinion of the Botani- 

 cal Committee of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, on the subject of 

 the sexual differences and changes saicl to be observed in the cultivation of 

 some strawberries. 



I am at a loss to conceive what is required of it ; a mere expression of 

 opinion, is of no scientific value, more especially in Botany, which is em- 

 phatically a science of facts. Had you anything to place before them, 

 seeds, flowers, plants, specimens, something on which a report could be 

 founded, a meeting of the Committee would be consistent ; in the absence 

 of these, the result would be but the proceedings of a debating club, in 

 which judgment goes by a majority, and could stand as a scientific truth 

 only so long as a different committee should not decide to the contrary. 



Without specimens before us, all that could be done in the case, would 

 be to inquire whether the sexual changes in question, were or were not 

 probable ; but probabilities are not facts, and are beyond the field of botani- 

 cal inquiry. 



The examination would be more legal than scientific, it would involve 

 the honor or accuracy of the observer of the stated facts ; not the cor- 

 rectness of the facts themselves. It is a question for individual examina- 

 tion and study, not for the decisions of committees or conventions. I 

 would propose to those interested in the matter, to study the scientific 

 bearings of the question for themselves. A little knowledge of the old Lin- 

 naean system of Botany would be of service. Amongst other classes in 

 that system, are three which have a bearing on the cases in point, Monoe- 

 cia, Dicecia and Polygamia. The first, comprises those plants which have 

 the stamens and pistils on separate flowers, but on the same plant. The 

 second, those which have them on separate flowers, or on separate plants ; 

 and the third, those which have the power of providing them on the same 

 or separate plants, or even with perfect flowers, as circumstances dictate. 



Now, in reference to this strawberry question, it seems that the great 

 botanist Linnaeus, placed it in his twelfth class, as, in his observation, its 

 constant character was to bear its flowers perfect. Mr. Longworth and 

 others, subsequently showed that this was an error, as, in their observation 

 it was constantly Dioecious. Subsequently, Mr. Meehan comes forward a 

 step farther than either of these, with the observation that the plant is 

 really polygamous. 



What does all this amount to ? Linnaeus and Mr. Longworth take to ex- 

 tremes, and Mr. Meehan the intermediate, reconciling the other two. 



