114 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



first it gave indifferent results in many places because it 

 ran to vines under high culture. Parkinson said, in 1629 : 

 "The Virginian strawberry carry eth the greateft leafe 

 of any other except the Bohemian ; but fcarce can one 

 Strawberry be feene ripe among a number of plants. I 

 thinke the reafon thereof to be the want of skill or induftry 

 to order it right. Strawberries will not bear kindly if you 

 suffer them to grow with many strings." 



According to Barnet, no improved varieties were pro- 

 duced from the Scarlet for more than one hundred years 

 after it was introduced, either by seed or by importation 

 from America. Perhaps its superfluity of runners was 

 one reason why it was neglected at first. However, it 

 showed a capacity for variation and improvement that 

 the Wood strawberry did not. Early in the eighteenth 

 century it was found that new varieties could be produced 

 from it, differing quite materially from the parent, merely 

 by sowing seeds. In 1766 Duchesne mentioned a dis- 

 tinct variety of the Scarlet. In 1824 Barnet described 

 twenty-six varieties, most of which were quite superior to 

 the type. During the latter part of the eighteenth and 

 the first part of the nineteenth centuries, varieties of the 

 Scarlet held almost undisputed sway in English gardens. 

 According to Weathers, the Old Scarlet, which is the type 

 of F. virginiana, still is grown in England and Scotland 

 for making jam. 



Introduction of the Chilean. — Although the Scarlet 

 had shown greater capacity for improvement than the 

 Wood and Hautbois, still its varieties were very little 

 superior in size of berry to the best wild plants, and it was 

 generally agreed that none surpassed the berries of the wild 

 Scarlet in flavor. The strawberries of that period were of 

 good quality, but small. 



