EARLY HISTORY 5 



possible that this ameHoration may have been begun, in a 

 very Hmited way, by the first settlers, since it is recorded 

 by English horticulturists that the Large Early Scarlet, 

 a large-fruited form of F. virginiana, was introduced into 

 England about 1624. It is not likely, however, that 

 garden culture began much before 1700. Any superior 

 wilding that was found was more likely to be sent to 

 Europe, where the possibilities of the "American Scarlet '^ 

 as a garden fruit were instantly appreciated and enthusias- 

 tically exploited, than to be kept in America, where every 

 hillside and meadow yielded an abundant harvest to all 

 who might seek it. 



Small towns soon sprang up, and the cultivated area 

 surrounding them gradually widened. As the land be- 

 came more fully subdued in tilled crops, it was no longer 

 the habitat of the wild strawberry. It became necessary 

 for the housewife to go farther and farther afield to gather 

 the annual supply for preserves and jam. There came a 

 time when this trip became long and irksome ; then wild 

 plants were transplanted to the garden. This was the 

 beginning of strawberry culture. It now became desir- 

 able to scrutinize the wild plants more closely, so as to 

 find those of superior productiveness, size or flavor, in 

 order that the garden space might be most fruitful. This 

 was the beginning of strawberry breeding. 



Until about 1750, there was no garden culture of the 

 strawberry except of these transplanted wildings, and 

 even these were grown only in a very few gardens. Nearly 

 everybody, even in the larger towns, still depended upon 

 the supply of wild berries. Long before the Revolution, 

 wild strawberries became an article of barter and sale in 

 Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Their 

 streets resounded then, as now, with the long drawn out 



