The commonwealth. (Wilmington, Del.) 1858-18??, 1863-09-30
THE STRAWBERRY PLANT.

We find in ali old copy of the London
illustrated Ne,es the following letter
from DIR. N. Longworth, of Cincinnati,
Ohio, who is now dead, but who was so
famous in his day for fine strawberries
and Catawba Wine. The letter is adj
dressed to the Editor of that paper, and
is well worthy of a careful perusal, ema-
anating, as it did, from n.an of large
experience:
CiscixsArI, Ohio. July, 1858.
Believing that this letter, IL 1t should
lead to an investigation of the nature
OF the strawberry plant, will be worth
millions OF dollars to Burope, request Its
publication in yonr paper. Linnsus, and all
your botsnists, TO this day, behave that the
straw berry plant is always perfect in all its
organs. | hold, on the contrary, that In
] raising from seed, nearly hve.rixths Of the
plants are entirely defective in stamsns or
pisiils, and never bear single berry unless
| impregnxtsd by a staminate-thht even the
perfect plant will bear no fruit, unless In
seots are shout, IL carry the fsrina. Twenty
yes's since, We had stsminatc and pistiiihte
plants only. had an eighth Of an acre in
strawberry plants, and yet hal to go to a
market won IN, Mrs. Arbigurst, to buy the
fruit to supply my own family. One day. a
son of hers came into my garden. when the
plants were nearly blossoming, and observed |,
"You raise but litte fruit, and Il q reason q
your plants are nesrly all ST, minatcs."
said, THAT is nonsense; the strawberry h.
longs TO class Of plants, that Is perfect in
all It's organs" | asked him which would
bear fruit, lie pointed out 20 plants. Al
ter he left, put mark TO each plant.
When they blossomed, could see tue STAN.
ems at the distance OF ten feel, or more, and
the blossoms were one-fourth larger; in the
blossoms OF the 80, no stamens TO be seen,
till carefully examined, aud wholly Effective
having no farina. The few pistillate plant:
bore perfect berry to each blossom tn,
: 81 aminstes, not even q defective berry. Be
fore they were out OF bios som, l dug ny
every staminate plant. The next season,
had not single berry. | made the cas-,
c known, and in three years strawberries wer,
h reduced two-thirds in price. For years on
: Eastern horticultursts held to the old doc
y trine, bnt have now become converts. The
t secretary of your horticultural society rot
@ me, that the difference must be caused b,
: our soil and climate, and, that our pis'ilfale
with you would change. l shall believ
l. this, as soon as | believe in our prevalen
IS doctrine of spiritual rappings, but not be
Il fore. Your botanists should have invest
n gated this, years since. Publicatioi s sbog
u that a disciple Of Liunpis, wrote him, tina
II he had discovered plant, defective i
Il pistils, and, which never bore berry. Lii
!, Nous advised him TO keep quiet. That III
n failure to bear fruit must have been cause
N by frost-there is stronger evidence. Eea
Ie your horticultural reports Mr.. Eean. VIII
W raised from seed, your celebrated Kean
: Seeding, wrote a letter to the uorlic u!turi
~ Society, saying, that to his surprise, h
s. found some seedlings that ore no fruit. II
Ia examined the blossoms closely, and coul
= 81 not find fully developed stalnen. H.. the
VI planted perit. plant near them, and ever
is blossom bore fruit. THIS letter was puhlisl
is ed, and the matter. there ended Ma
blossoms are entirely defective in pis,ls, a,
bear no fruit; others, not wholly peri, 9 an
nc bear defective berries the average crop n,
4 more than one-half Of perfect fruit; the fru
is large, and from the seed You will be- cert Al
to ! ave superior pistillates, perfect plan,
IL and many staminates. The old botanis
At Mrs. Arbigurst, every season threw plan
10 on the road where. the strawberry mt
-. passed. They picked them up, an plant.
q til IN but the plants did not bear a sins
N berry. She was careful 10 throw ont !
ii stanin mates. | last summer planted abol
, 10000 strawi cry seed, and have seedlip
bearing yearly. A. LoKewoRru.