426 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



the wild strawberry was very abundant, and frequently grew to 

 a much larger size than at present; and even within the recol- 

 lection of men now living, this fruit was by no means rare in 

 this state, neither is it in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 

 to-day. William Wood, an early visitor and accurate observer, 

 states in his "New England Prospect," published in 1635, that 

 "there is, likewise, growing all manner of Hearbes for meate 

 and medicin, and that not onely in planted Gardens, but in the 

 woods, without either the art or helpe of man. * * * There 

 is, likewise, Strawberies in abundance, verie large ones, some 

 being two inches about; one may gather halfe a bushell in afore- 

 noone " [p .386]. And in 1643 Eoger Williams wrote : " This berry 

 [Strawberry] is the wonder of all the fruits growing naturally 

 in those parts; it is of itself excellent, so that one of the 

 cheiftest doctors of England was wont to say that God could 

 have made, but never did, a better berry. * * * In some 

 parts, where the natives have planted, I have many times seen 

 as many as would fill a good ship within a few miles' compasse. 

 The Indians bruise them in a mottar and mixe them with meale 

 and make Strawberry bread." Strawberry bread appears to have 

 been in common use among the Indians, as we find it mentioned 

 by other writers, notably Gorkin, who was a co-worker with Eev. 

 John Eliot among the Nipmucks and other Massachusetts tribes. 

 These statements, with many others which could be cited, show 

 conclusively that the wild strawberry was once very abundant 

 here in New England, and undoubtedly the principal reason for 

 the decline of this wild fruit is the exhausted conditions of our 

 soil. In early times the clearing of an old wood gave rise to 

 abundance of these berries, and they were noted as being 

 abundant in our meadows. The strawberry, however, is not 

 the only natural crop that has changed. Many of our meadows, 

 which now produce a crop of grass hardly worth cutting, once 

 supported a luxuriant growth of the fowl meadow grass, "thick 

 and long, as high as a man's middle, some as high as the 

 shoulders, so that a good mower might cut three load a day." 

 To-day, however, hardly less should be expected, since for 

 generations crops have been removed from the soil without the 

 return of any plant-food, whereas in olden time, before the 

 advent of the white man, everything was allowed to decay 



