THE STRAWBERRY PLANT. 
245 
a strange occurrence, should a single plant be found 
perfect in both organs. With the exception of the 
white and monthly varieties, I have met with one 
plant only, perfect in both organs. Its fruit is small. 
That even an acre of Hovey’s tine seedlings, will 
not by themselves, produce a single perfect fruit. 
It is time this subject was settled, for if my impres¬ 
sions be true, though our Queen city may be second 
to New York in population, she will be the only city 
where strawberries can be sold at a price to bring 
them within the reach of the poor. No cultivator 
will be able to take 125 bushels in one day to her 
market. True, I did not go to the far West, for 
poverty, I had a plenty of that in my native town. 
Still, I feel a deep interest in the poor, and would 
risk something to bring this delicious fruit within 
their reach. I propose that Mr. Downing select a 
dozen perfect plants, from each of the twelve follow¬ 
ing varieties described in his work. Bishop,Grove 
End scarlet, Hudson, Large early scarlet, Methven 
scarlet, Black Prince, Brewer’s Emperor, Elton, 
Hovey's seedling, Myatt’s British Queen, Myatt’s 
pine, and Myatt’s Deptford pine. Most of these are 
new kinds, and never seen by me. Mr. Downing 
has seen them, and can the better judge. Let these 
be sent to Mr. Jackson, an intelligent horticulturist 
in the vicinity of Cincinnati, who will take a pleasure 
in making the experiment. Mr. Downing, if he 
wishes, can name another person to overlook the 
plants. These twelve varieties Mr. Jackson will 
plant 100 feet separate from each other. He will 
leave, when growing, one plant only of each. That 
plant may be increased by runners. For each variety 
that produces a full crop of perfect fruit, I will pay 
$50 to Mr. Downing, to be applied as he may wish. 
For each kind that does not produce a full crop of 
perfect fruit, he is to pay me $50, which I will 
apply to some public charity. Should the experi¬ 
ment cost me $600, I shall deserve it for my temerity 
and ignorance. Should it cost Mr. Downing that 
sum, a belief in my views, and a corresponding culti¬ 
vation, will reduce the price of strawberries to 4 cents 
per quart. Should Mr. Downing not incline to 
accept this proposition, I trust the President of the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, will bring the 
subject before them, and have the question fully set¬ 
tled. Mr. Hovey deems his seedlings what Mr. 
Downing calls a natural plant, and uniform bearer. 
Yet I believe a different opinion prevails at the garden 
of Messrs. Hovey. Mr. Hyde, an intelligent horti¬ 
culturist, in the vicinity of Boston, informed Mr. 
Ernst, when he was in Cincinnati, that when he 
bought Hovey’s seedling at their nursery, he was 
told it would not bear, except in tl^p vicinity of other 
varieties-. 
To induce market gardeners and others to make 
the experiment, I would state, that I have paid par¬ 
ticular attention to this plant for 30 years. In the 
fields in this region, 50 years since, the plant was 
abundant. Barren -patches were common in the 
field, but I was not then aware of the cause. Of 
late years, I have examined them. There are stami- 
nate plants so defective in the female organs, as 
never to bear even a defective berry. Others are so 
far perfect in both organs, as to produce a half crop 
of fruit. The pistillate plant is so defective in the 
male organs, as never, except impregnated by a 
plant near, to produce a perfect fruit. As a general 
rule, where the staminate plant produces any fruit, it 
is the richer of the two. For the better understand¬ 
ing of those ignorant of botany, I am in the habit of 
designating them as male and female. The straw¬ 
berry belongs to the class of plants that has the male 
and female organs in the same blossom, and I have 
never seen a white or monthly variety in which both 
organs were not perfect. Of the scarlet, I have seen 
one variety, and one only, that is perfect in both 
organs ; and every blossom produces a small, high- 
flavored perfect fruit, unless injured by late frosts. 
Neither the staminate nor pistillate plant, change 
their character by cultivation. The partially bearing 
staminate plant, will bear better some seasons than 
others, and, I doubt not, a greater portion of pistillate 
organs may be forced out than usual, by forcing in 
hot beds. It is this character of the strawberry 
plant, that renders botanists slow of belief. Yet, it 
should not, for the discovery is not of modem date. 
It was noticed by some of the disciples of Linnaeus, 
and he scolded them for it, advising them to examine 
closely the plant before committing themselves, as he 
presumed the plants they called staminate and 
barren, were blossoms killed by the late frosts 
Duhamel and all who have written expressly on 
this plant, since the days of Linnaeus, have advanced 
the* same doctrine, with the exception of Harper or 
Harvey,* who wrote the results of the London Hor¬ 
ticultural Society's classification of the different straw¬ 
berries cultivated in England. He is silent on the 
subject of staminate plants, and appears to have had 
as little practical knowledge of the character of the 
plant, as he had of the Hebrew psalter. 
From the prairies of Iowa, I have twice had straw¬ 
berry plants sent me, with the same result. There 
were both staminate and pistillate plants. The fruit 
of the latter was very small, and never produced a 
single berry, unless impregnated by other plants. 
The staminate plant, in favorable seasons, will per¬ 
fect half its blossoms ; in others, but few. The fruit 
is a light scarlet, and where it perfects but three or 
four berries to the plant, the fruit will measure up¬ 
wards of 4 inches. If used for impregnation, it re¬ 
quires constant watching. It is of such vigorous 
growth, that if but one plant were planted to 50 pis¬ 
tillate plants, it will in two years root out the others. 
For 20 years, I kept patches of the staminate and 
pistillate Hudson strawberry, in separate depart¬ 
ments, to set hew beds from, so as to be certain not to 
have too many barren plants. Neither bed ever pro¬ 
duced a single fruit, unless as a matter of curiosity, I 
placed a single plant of the latter by the former, 
when a certain portion were always impregnated, 
and bore perfect fruit. When, in blossom, the plants 
may be distinguished at the distance of 20 ieet. Our 
market gardeners can distinguish them by the stem 
and leaf. In raising from seed, 1 have had about an 
equal quantity of staminate and pistillate plants. Not 
one in 50 of the former would produce a single berry. 
I have raised thousands in a single year, but I never 
raised one of what Mr. Downing calls a natural 
plant; not one in which both organs were perfect in 
the same blossom. I never saw a pistillate plant, 
separated from all others, bear a perfect fruit 
Hovey’s very superior seedling, by itself, as obtained 
by us, in the west, from his nursery, and from 
* My memory does rot serve me certainly of 
his name. 
