114 



APPE2s"DIX. 



cultivator with its false promises of fruit. The flower 

 of the pure male may be easily known by its large 

 anthers and stamens, as marked a, in Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3 is the pistillate or female blossom. It will be 

 observed that there are no stamens around the pistil, as 

 b, but nearly every bud will produce a berry if impreg- 

 nated by one of the staminate or hermaphrodite plants. 

 Of this variety is the Hovey Seedling, which, as far as 

 my experience goes, is the best strawberry ever yet 

 cultivated, North or South. 



Before proceeding to the method of cultui^e, I will 

 give my views of the time of impregnation, being fully 

 satisfied that the generally received opinion that the 

 strawberry is impregnated after the petals expand, is 

 entirely erroneous. I have long since observed that 

 the first strawberry blossoms never produce fruit. The 

 staminate varieties, or rather the hermaphrodite, open 

 from two to ten blossoms, which must shed their pollen 

 on the ends of the unopened calyx of the young buds 

 below, or fall on the ends of the unopened pistillate 

 buds, and immediately cause impregnation. 



The pollen of flowers is one of the most volatile 

 substances in nature. That of the strawberry, viewed 

 through a microscope, is a hairy substance, which, 

 upon ripening, bursts and floats off" on the least 

 breath of air. The point of the unopened calyx 

 contains a glutinous matter, whicii catches and holds 



