Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1857-06-27

Cultivation of the Strawberry--The Sc
cret Out.
DO the public know to what degree
the strawberry is cultivated in the en-
virous of Cincinnati! The season has
not yet begun, but l understand that,
in a week or two, hundreds OF bushels
will be brought in each day. Last sea
son one man would have three hun
dred bushels in the market at one time
Mr.. Longworth is the father of the
strawberry culture, as well as Of the
vine culture. He has given to the
world the fruits OF remarkable dis
covery, in the shape Of three new
seedeings-the Superior, the Prolific,
and the Extra Red--each of which
has an excellence of its own. This
new discovery was the property of an
ignorant market woman, who, first in
Philadelphia, and next in Cincinnati,
beat all her neighbors in the abundan.
ce, as well as the finencss of her crop.
Every Spring she would go carefully
over her beds, pull up numbers OF
the largest blossoming plants, and
throw them over the fence. The rival
gardeners, cmulous Of her success.
carefully picked up these rejected
plsnts and set them out in their gar
dcns. But not vet had they caught
the goose that laid the golden eggs
Her castaways did no better than the
old ones, if as well, and still she raised
five times as many berries as any one
else. On coming to Cincinnati she
still distanced all competitors why,
no che could discover. AT length her
son carelessly dropped hint in the
hearing of Mr.. Longworth, who caught
it up and experimental, until he found
out the curious fact that the strawber-
ry is sometimes male, sometimes
female, and sometimes hermaphrodltc.
having both organs more or less com.
plete-a fact, the judicious use where
of has brought the price OF strawber.
ries from forty to fifty cents down to
four and five cents a quart, and made
staple OF the State.
1t WAS the male Strawberries, whose
blossoms are always the largest, tina
the market woman threw over the
fence, keeping just gentlemen enough
in her beds for the ladies. Too many
not only take up too much room, but
as their energies are not exhausted in
bearing fruit, grow and spread SO f;s
as seriously to cncroach upon the har-
ems, so that, if not looked to in time,
they are likely, as Mr.. Longworth SAYS,
ito kick all the women out of bed."-
Hence it is that many people find to
their surprise fewer and fewer straw
berries, though the blossoms are larger
every Spring. On the other hand, the
female can do nothing without inter
course with the other sex, of course
lIovey's Seeding, so long the favorite
strawberry of the East, is pure fe-
male, and bears only when it has com.
panions in the bed, as it is always sure
to have few or none. The English
strawberries are said to be always her
maphrodite, which renders it difficult
for John Bull to believe there are pure
males and females. Not the least Gu
rious thing is the way in which the
male mpregnates the female. lie
does it by proxy, honey bees and 9th
er insects playing the go betwcen.-
They carry the dust on their feet, as
they fly from flower to flower. This
has been established, believe, beyond
cavil, by series of experiments. such
as covering the female plant with gauze
when they are sure to be barren, but
begin to do their duty the moment the
gauze is removed. There is, therefore,
no need to put the male plants in the
same bed with the female, and in prsc'
tice each is now placed by itself, from
foot to yard apart from its coniu.
gal companions. OF the three varlc.
ties just mentioned as Mr.. Longworth's
seedlings, now in general cultivation
here, the Superior and Extra Red are
female, and the Prolific is hermaphro-
ditc.