STRAWBERRIES— ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 45 



data and conflicting opinions of the authorities, the curiosity 

 that I have imagined on some faces. Those who care 

 only for the strawberry of to-day can easily skip a few 

 pages. 



If there were as much doubt about a crop of this fruit as 

 concerning the origin of its name, the outlook would be 

 dismal, indeed. In old Saxon, the word was streawberige 

 or streowberrie ; and was so named, says one authority, 

 " from the straw-like stems of the plant, or from the berries 

 lying strewn upon the ground." Another authority tells us : 

 "It is an old English practice " (let us hope a modem one 

 also) " to lay straw between the rows to preserve the fruit 

 from rotting on the wet ground, from which the name has 

 been supposed to be derived; although more probably it 

 is from the wandering habit of the plant, straw being a cor- 

 ruption of the Anglo-Saxon strcE, from which we have the 

 English verb stray '^ Again, tradition asserts that in the olden 

 times children strung the berries on straws for sale, and 

 hence the name. Several other causes have been suggested, 

 but I forbear. I have never known, however, a person to 

 decline the fruit on the ground of this obscurity and doubt. 

 (Controversiahsts and sceptics please take note.) 



That the strawberry should belong to the rose family, and 

 that its botanical name should be fragaria, from the Latin 

 fragro, to smell sweetly, will seem both natural and 

 appropriate. 



While for his knowledge of the plant I refer the reader 

 to every hillside and field (would that I might say, to every 

 garden !), there is a peculiarity in the production of the 

 fruit which should not pass unnoted. Strictly speaking, the 

 small seeds scattered over the surface of the berry are 

 the fruit, and it is to perfect these seeds that the plants blos- 

 som, the stamens scatter, and the pistils receive the pollen 



