STKAWBERRIES. 71 



the western part of New York they are very plen- 

 tiful.) 



Ovid mentions the wood strawberry, which would 

 lead one to infer that they were more abundant in his 

 time and country than in ours. 



This is, perhaps, the same as the Alpine straw- 

 berry, which is said to grow in the mountains of 

 Greece, and thence northward. This was probably 

 the first variety cultivated, though our native species 

 would seem as unpromising a subject for the garden 

 as club-moss or winter-greens. 



Of the field strawberry there are a great many 

 varieties, some growing in meadows, some in past- 

 ures, and some upon mountain-tops. Some are round, 

 and stick close to the calyx or hull ; some are long 

 and pointed, with long, tapering necks. These usu- 

 ally grow upon tall stems. They are, indeed, of the 

 slim, linear kind. Your corpulent berry keeps close 

 to the ground ; its stem and foot-stalk are short, and 

 neck it has none. Its color is deeper than that of its 

 tall brother, and of course it has more juice. You 

 are more apt to find the tall varieties upon knolls in 

 low, wet meadows, and again upon mountain-tops, 

 growing in tussocks of wild grass about the open 

 summits. These latter ripen in July, and give one 

 his last taste of strawberries for the season. 



But the favorite haunt of the wild strawberry is an 

 up-lying meadow that has been exempt from the 

 plow for five or six years, and that has little timothy 

 and much daisy. When you go a-berrying turn your 



