The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1857-07-24
Cultivation of the strawberry.

Do the readers Of the iribune know to what
degree the strawberry is grown in the enyi-
rons of Cincinnati ? The season has not
yet begun, but understand that IN the
course oi a week or two, hundreds and hun
drcds of bushels will be brought in each
day. Last season one man would have three
hundred bushels in the market, alta time.
Mr.. Longworth is the father of the straw
berry culture as we'll as the vine culture.
He has gwen to the world the fruits OF a
remarkable discovery in the shape OF three
new seedlings-the superior, the Prolific, aud
the Ext,a Red, each Of which has an excel
lence OF its own. This new discovery was
the property Of an ignOrent market-woman'
who, first in Philadelphia, next in CincIn'
natl, beat all her neighbors in the abundance
Us well the fncness ofher crop. Every spring
she would carefully 20 over her beds. pull np
numbers of the largest blossoming plants
and throw them over the fence. The rival
gardeners, einulous Of her success, carefully
picked up these rejected plants and set them
out in their gardens. But not yet have
they caught the goose that laid the golden
eggs. Her castaways did no better than the
old ones, if rs well and still she raised FIVE
times Us many berries as any one else. IN
coming to Cincinnati, she still distaneed all
com "etitors-why, no one could discover.
At length her son carelessly dropped hint
in the hearing Of Mr.. Longworth, who
caught il up and experimental, until he
found out the curious fact that the straw
berry is sometimes male and somtimes fe-
male. aud sometimes aermaphrolitc, having
both organs more or les' eomplete-a fact,
the judicious use whereof has brought the
price Of strawberries from 10 to so cent
down to 1 TO 5 cents per quart, and made
them a staple Of the state Of Ohio. Ii was
the male strawber rics, whose blossoms are
always the largest, that the market-womau
threw over the fence, keeping just gentlemen
enough in her bcds for the ladies. loo many
not only take up too much room, but, a.
their energies are not exhausted in bearing
fruit, grow and spread 50 fastas seriously to
encroach upon :he harems, 50 that II moi
looked at in time they are likely, as Mr.
Longstreth says, ''to kick all the women ont
Of bed" Hence it IS tina, many peoPl,
find to their great surprise, that they have
fewer and f,wer strawberries, though th,
blossoms are larger and larger every spring
On the other hand, the fclnales can do notu
ing without intercourse with the other sex
orcourse. nOvey's seeding, ~ long the ia.
vorite strawberry OF the East, Is a pure ie
male, and bcIrs only when it has companions
in the bed. ~ il is almost sure to have few
or none. The English strawberries are sliC
to be always hcrmaphr dite, which render
il difficult for Johny Ball to believe tina
there are pure males and females. Not th
least curious thing in the way in which tn
male impresnates the female. lie DOES It b.
proxy, honsybee and other insects playin,
the go-between. They carry the dust OF
their feet as they ay from flower to flower
This fact has been established, believe, b.
yond cavil, by series of experiments, sue
such as covering sOIne Of the female plan
with giuse, when they arc SURE to be barren
but begin To do their duty the moment th
cause Is removed. There is therefore, n
need to put male plants in the same bed wit
the females, and IN practice each Is usual
placed by itself, from u foot to yard aPAi
from its conjugll eoapanions. Ofthe thrs
varieties just mentioned as Mr.. Lonsworih
seedlings, now in general cultivation herr
the Superior and Extra Red ara female, an
the Prolific Is hsrmAPhrVdise.