90 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE 



crying of Strawberries in the streets was even so early as 

 this a recognised institution in the metropolis. 



Straw is often put around the garden plants, and for 

 a twofold purpose, the retention of the moisture beneath it, 

 and the cleanlier growth of the fruit above it, and some 

 would tell us that here is an obvious reason why the 

 plant is called the strawberry. Others say, not so at all, 

 but rather because it was long the custom for children 

 to gather the berries in the woods and thread them on 

 straws of grass for sale, a custom that still obtains in 

 some parts of the country. Neither of these explanations 

 meets the case. The first half of the word is sometimes 

 straw, sometimes strew, or strow, or stray in old authors, 

 but is, in any case, based on the Anglo-Saxon verb streaw^ 

 to scatter, disperse, or spread, and refers to the growth 

 of the plant ages before either straw or straws had any- 

 thing to do with it. The strawberry, wild or cultivated, 

 throws out runners most freely ; these root, and again 

 repeat the process, so that in a short space of time the 

 area covered by the plant is greatly increased. If, there- 

 fore, we find the strawberry at all, we find it in profusion, 

 aggressively covering a considerable distance along the 

 hedgebank, and with no regard at all to the rights of its 

 companions. 



" The water of the Berries carefully distilled is a 

 soveraign remeday and Cordiall," declares one venerable 

 authority, " in the palpitations of the heart, that is the 



' And fuUe myche peple spredden her clothes in the wey, other kitterdon 

 braunchis of trees and strewiden in the weye. — Wiclif. St. Matthew xxi. 



And so thyder he rode to dyner, and so alyghted there, and went inta 

 his chambre, the whyche was strawed with grene herbes, and the walls sette 

 fulle of grene bowes, to make the chambre more fresh. — Froissart's Cronycle. 



