STRAWBERRY BLOSSOMS. Fig. 294. B A. Perfect or bi-sexual blossom, having stamens and pistils in due proportion. A. Plants bearing perfect or bi-sexual flowers, as Fig. 294 A, are always fruitful, but more or less so according as they produce their stamens and pistils in sufficient or insufficient proportion to one another. These varieties are very commonly, but quite improperly, called staminates, or by another designation, which, as applied to fertile plants, is simply absurd. B. Plants bearing only staminate flowers, as Fig. 294 B, are uniformly and entirely fruitless. C. Plants bearing pistillate flowers, as Fig. 294 C, are fruitless, unless in combination with plants bearing perfect flowers, as A, certain varieties of which have stamens in excess; or with plants bearing only staminate flowers, as B, in connection with which they may be regarded as anomalous diœcious varieties (see page 76). In such combinations they are very fruitful, and some of the finest known varieties are of this class, or belong to a subdivision of bi-sexual flowers in which a deficient proportion of stamens is developed, and, consequently, when planted alone, they yield but little fruit, and are therefore also sometimes erroneously called pistillates. COMBINATION OF CLASSES. If it is desired to cultivate such kinds on account of special qualities in the fruit, the end may be readily secured by planting your beds of only three rows width, leaving a space of three feet between the beds, and along the centre of this space planting a single row of any good perfect-flowered variety, which must be either cultivated upon the hilling system or limited to its own space by running the grass-edger, or a substitute for it, along each side of it from time to time, cutting off and removing all runners, and maintaining a perfect separation between it and the beds; or the beds may be made five rows wide, the centre row of each being of a perfect-flowered variety, and kept apart from the others with the grass-edger, as above directed. The blossoms of these will supply the deficiency of fertilizers in your beds, and secure full crops. The following kinds are of reputation in their several classes. Either of the varieties comprised in the first of the following classes may be planted as fertilizers in combination with those of the second, but perhaps No. 1 or No. 3 will prove as desirable and successful as any for the end sought. CLASS I. Varieties having perfect or bi-sexual flowers, bearing their full natural crop of fruit when planted alone. wrongly called staminates. NO. 1. LARGE EARLY SCARLET. Fig. 295. Sometimes Pretty large, round ovate; tender and rich. Color a fine bright scarlet. A good bearer, and ripens early. This is an improved sub-variety of the old or native early scarlet, and very superior to it in all respects. NO. 2. LONGWORTH'S PROLIFIC. Fig. 296. Rather large; dark crimson; roundish; flesh firm, subacid, rich, and high flavored. It is a regular and free bearer, carrying its fruit well upon the stem. Ripens at medium season. NO. 3. WILSON'S ALBANY. Large to very large; roundish-conical, form varying with the size, as in the figures. Color dark ruby. A strong grower, very productive, and of excellent quality. Ripens at medium season or rather later. Wilson's Albany is one of the most recent and valuable of strawberries, and is fast making its way to merited popularity. Large, roundish, slightly necked; of good quality, and fine appearance. Color dark crimson. rying its fruit finely on the stem. Very productive, and car- To this class may be added Iowa, Walker's Seedling, a fruit of much merit, Ross's Phoenix, and Jenny Lind, all of which, in suitable circumstances, will be found productive and of fine quality. The Iowa has been extensively used in combination as a fertilizer at the West. CLASS II. Varieties having imperfect or uni-sexual flowers, being deficient in stamens or destitute of them; comparatively unfruitful alone, but bearing abundantly in combination with varieties having either perfect or staminate flowers. NO. 5. BURR'S NEW PINE (Fig. 299). Large, roundish-conical; tender, sweet, rich, and aromatic. Color a clear pale red. Ripening early, and in combination bearing fine perfect berries. NO. 6. CRIMSON CONE (Fig. 300). Pretty large, long conical, with a neck, so that the fruit may be gathered without stems. Sprightly, rich, but slightly acid. Color bright crimson. Ripens rather early. NO. 7. HOVEY'S SEEDLING. Very large, round - oval, or nearly conical; firm, sprightly, and in favorable circumstances rich. Color fine dark red. Ripens at medium season or rather later. This fine strawberry, raised in Boston by the gentleman whose name it bears, has attained, perhaps, a greater celebrity than any other fruit of its class. In proper combination it yields very largely.. T Fig. 301. |