124 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



paler, slightly hairy; seeds a little imbedded in the 

 polished surface of the fruit, which has usually a furrow 

 at the apex ; the flesh is firm, solid, scarlet, without any 

 separable core, tolerably high flavor. The calyx is of 



modern size, hairy, 

 incurved. The foot 

 stalks of the leaves 

 are tall, slightly 

 hairy ; the leaflets 

 very large, roundish, 

 for the most part flat, 

 reclined, of a very 

 smooth shining dark 

 green, with coarse 

 serratures which are 

 large and rounded. 

 The runners are 

 small, numerous, 

 greenish yellow, and 

 slightly hairy. The 

 J7 scapes are of mod- 

 erate length, some- 

 times very short 

 branched, with 



Fio. 11. Keens' Seedling, the first improved i i * 



variety; introduced in 1821. short > Weak dus - 



tered peduncles." 



Keens' Seedling was not the result of hand crossing; 

 it was produced from berries of Keens' Imperial that had 

 been open to natural cross-pollination, so its exact parent- 

 age is not known. The first extended and accurate straw- 

 berry breeding was by Thomas Andrew Knight, who used 

 F. virginiana, F. chUoensis and F. grandiflora in his crosses. 

 Of his seedlings, only the Downton and the Elton achieved 



