THE STRAWBERRY. 11 
of picking such large fruit is very small, and the pro- 
duct much larger. The demand for extraordinary 
fruit is everywhere increasing. 
Of the many varieties on our own grounds one sea- 
son, more than twenty different kinds, without special 
effort, produced specimens four inches in circumference, 
while the largest were six. There is a positive plea- 
sure in raising such fruit, and our aim in this work is 
to enable many persons to make that pleasure their 
own. The interest on this subject has so increased and 
become so well-nigh universal, that every village and 
neighborhood can call out a little company who will 
be glad to know how easily it can be done. 
Mr. Downing says, ‘‘ The strawberry is perhaps the 
most wholesome of all fruits, being very easy of diges- 
tion, and never growing acid by fermentation, as most 
other fruits do. The oft-quoted instance of the great 
Linnezus curing himself of the gout by partaking 
freely of strawberries—a proof of its great wholesome- 
ness—is a letter of credit which this tempting fruit has 
long enjoyed, for the consolation of those who are look- 
ing for a bitter concealed under every sweet.” 
An unknown writer in the last Patent Office Report 
says, ‘‘ The strawberry was described by Juan di Cuba 
in his ‘Ortus Sanitatis, in 1485, in which its medical 
and other properties are treated at length.” He also 
eloquently says: 
