Download or read book Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, for the Year 1884 (Classic Reprint) written by Ontario Fruit Growers' Association and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-10-26 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, for the Year 1884 The strawberry, being the earliest fruit of the season, will first claim our attention. The cultivated varieties so deservedly popular in America are believed to be the progeny of crosses between the Fragaria Grandiflora of South America with our native Fragaria Virginiana, while the European sorts are said to have their origin in a similar manner from crosses between Fragaria Chilensis, of South America, and Fragaria Vesca, of Europe. The C'hilensis has light-coloured fruit and is less hardy, and the effect of this is seen in the general lighter colour of the progeny, and their inability to endure well the cold of our severe winters. As far as can be ascertained, the first of the American hybrids was Hovey's seedling, a variety which made its appearance in 1834, just fifty years ago. It held a prominent place in the estimation of strawberry growers for a very long period, and is still cultivated to some extent. Strawberries are divided into two classes, the pistillate and the hermaphrodite. The pistillate forms have the female organs in the flower well developed, while the pollen-bearing male organs are imperfect. Those known as hermaphrodites have perfect blossoms, in which both male and female organs are fully developed. In planting strawberries it is necessary to bear in mind this distinction, for, should a plantation be made of all pistillate forms the crop will be a failure 3 in such case all that is necessary to secure fruitfulness is to plant a row of one of the pollen-bearing varieties between every third or fourth row of the others, when the busy bees and other insects will carry the pollen from flower to flower until the whole are fertilized. I have enquired into the merits of more than sixty varieties of strawberries, all of which have been or are being tested in our Province; but I do not propose to weary you with a description of each, but to refer briefly to the leading sorts grown, adding those among the newer ones which seem to be of special promise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.