THE 



VOL. VI.] 



MARCH, 1883. 



[No. 3. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



heavier and more oleaginous food which 

 is so commonly found on our tables, 

 we should doubtless find that we were 

 gainers by the change. 



Three species of strawberry are men- 

 tioned in Gray's manual as found grow- 

 ing in America. Of these the Indica 

 is hardly regarded as a true strawberry, 

 and is an escape from cultivation, found 

 in the vicinity of Philadelphia and 

 southward. It has yellow flowers and 

 leafy runners, and the fruit is insipid. 

 The Vesca is the well known Alpine 

 species, indigenous both to Europe and 

 America. The seeds are not sunken in 

 pits, and some of the varieties do not 

 ju-oJuce runners. The Virginiana is 

 found growing wild from Florida to the 

 Arctic regions, and westward to the 

 Rocky Mountains. It is the most 

 valuable of all the species, and is the 

 parent of most of our cultivated varie- 

 ties. It is more hardy, adapting itself 

 to a greater variety of soil and climate 

 than either of the othei*s, or than even 

 its congener, known as Chilensis, from 

 having been introduced into Europe 

 from Chili, though it is found growing 

 wild on the Pacific slope cf both con- 

 tinents. Henc3 it is that we find the 

 Wilson, which is a descendant from the 



Some one has quaintly said that 

 doubtless God could have created a 

 ^.etter fruit than the strawberry but he 

 did not, and we believe the sentiment 

 is very generally accepted by most of 

 the fruit consuming public. They ripen 

 at a time when we crave their acidu- 

 lated juices, which are so pleasantly 

 flavored and delightfully perfumed, and 

 withal put up in such beautifully tinted 

 parcels that every sense is gratified. 

 Besides the fruit is so easily grown that 

 even the tenant of a few square yards 

 of ground can have his strawberries 

 fresh from the beds near his door, and 

 in such abundance as to supply his 

 table at every meal for at least a month 

 in early summer. 



Besides all this gratification of taste 

 and sense, this fruit is valuable as a 

 mere article of food. It is healthful 

 diet, corrective of biliousness, and a 

 valuable substitute for at least a portion 

 of the animal food which we use in 

 more than sufficient quantity. It is 

 capable of sujjplying the waste occa- 

 sioned by continuous and even severe 

 labor to a much greater de.jn;e than we 

 are wont to suppose. Were it used 

 much more freely, and a^ a sulwtitute 

 to some considerable extent for the 



