516 



ROSACES. X. FRAGARIA. 



Chili Strawberry. Fl. April, May. Clt. 1727. PI. 1 foot. 



11 F. BONARIE'NSIS (Juss. herb, ex Pers. ench. 2. p. 53.) 

 leaflets broadly ovate, oblique at the base, villous beneath ; stem 

 villous. I/ . H. Native of Monte Video and Buenos Ayres. 

 Calyx villous. Petals white, large. Perhaps referrible to F. 

 grandiflora. 



Jiiicnos Ayrean Strawberry. Fl. April, June. PI. 1 foot. 



12 F. CANADE'.VSIS (Mich. fl. bor. amer. 1. p. 299.) large; 

 leaflets ample, oval, manifestly petiolate ; pedicels long, re- 

 curved, pendulous ; receptacle globose, scrobiculate, villous. 

 1{. H. Native of North America, in woods and hilly places 

 from Hudson's Bay to the United States. Flowers white. 



(.'(liiiiditin Strawberry. Fl. April, May. PI. 1 foot. 



IS F. SUNDA'ICA (Blum, bijdr. 1106.) calycine segments 

 spreading, entire ; down on petioles and peduncles spreading ; 

 leaves ternate and quinate ; leaflets simply and bluntly serru- 

 lated, pubescent on the nerves beneath. I/ . H. Native of 

 .Java, on Mount Gede. Flowers not described. 



Siinda Strawberry. PI. -f foot. 



* * * Leaves simple, 



14 F. MONOPHY'LLA (Willd. spec. 1093. Uster. neue ann. fasc. 

 8. ]). 40. t. 1. Curt. bot. mag. t. 63.) stoloniferous, weak ; leaves 

 simple, crenately toothed ; fruit pendulous ; receptacles elon- 

 gated, red ; sepals at length reflexed ; hairs on peduncles ad- 

 pressed. 1. H. Native of Europe. F. vesca var. mono- 

 phy'lla, Duchesn. in Lam. diet. 2. p. 532. no. 6. F. abnormis, 

 Tratt. ros. 3. p. 166. Flowers white, hermaphrodite. Fruit 

 round, small, worthless. Called one-leaved Alpine strawberry, 

 Frasier de Versailles, Frasier afeuilles simples. 



One-leaved Strawberry. Fl. May. Clt. 1773. PI. | foot. 

 The greater part of the varieties of strawberries are furnished 

 with stolons or runners. By some botanists the species have been 

 considered only varieties, but generally are distinguished as species. 

 T. A. Knight (Hort. trans. 3. p. 207.) considers the F. Chi/ensis 

 or Chili, the /'. grandiflora or pine, and the F. t'irginiana or scar- 

 let, (the first supposed to be a native of Surinam, the second of 

 Chili, and the third of Virginia,) to be varieties only of one 

 species, as all may be made to breed together indiscriminately. 

 The fruit has received its name from the ancient practice of lay- 

 ing straw between the rows, which keeps the ground moist and 

 the fruit clean. They are natives of temperate or cold climates, 

 as of Europe and America, and on the higher mountains of Asia. 

 The fruit, though termed a berry, is in correct botanical lan- 

 guage, a fleshy receptacle or polyphore studded with the car- 

 pella, commonly called seeds. 



Use. The fruit is fragrant, whence the generic name Fra- 

 garia, delicious, and universally esteemed. It consists almost 

 entirely of matter soluble in the stomach, nor neither there nor 

 when laid in heaps and left to rot, does it undergo the acetous 

 fermentation. Hence it is very nourishing, and may be safely 

 eaten in quantity. In addition to its grateful flavour, the sub- 

 acid juice has a cooling quality, particularly acceptable in sum- 

 mer. Eaten either alone or with sugar and cream, there are few 

 constitutions with which strawberries, even when taken in large 

 quantities, are found to disagree. Further, they have proper- 

 ties which, render them in most conditions of the animal 

 frame positively salutary ; and physicians concur in placing them 

 in their small catalogue of pleasant remedies. They dissolve 

 the tartarous incrustations of the teeth. They promote perspi- 

 ration. Persons afflicted with the gout have found relief from 

 using them very largely ; so have patients afflicted with the 

 stone ; and Hoffmann states he has known consumptive people 

 cured by them. The bark of the root is astringent. 



Of species and varieties. The classification of strawberries 



by Mr. James Barnet, published by the Horticultural Society, 

 has been adopted witli some little variation in the foregoing enu- 

 meration of varieties. In regard to the size it will be necessary 

 to state that the comparisons are made between the individual varie- 

 ties of which each species is composed, and do not extend to those 

 of other species. The general estimation of many of the sorts 

 is not so high as had been formerly stated, owing to their having 

 been found tender or indifferent bearers, compared with others 

 which experience has proved to be superior. 



Modes of propagation, The plants multiply spontaneously 

 every summer, as well by suckers from the parent stem as by 

 numerous runners, all of which, rooting and forming a plant at 

 every joint, require only to be removed to a bed where there is 

 room for them to flourish. Each of these separately bears a 

 few fruit the following season, and will bear in full perfection the 

 second summer. A plantation of the Alpine yields fruit the 

 same year that it is made. The n<oods and the Alpines come re- 

 gularly from seed, and bring a finer fruit than from offsets, ex- 

 cept the intention be to try for new varieties. Knight, in making 

 experiments with a view of ascertaining whether most of the 

 sorts would not breed together indiscriminately, raised about 400 

 varieties, " some very bad, but the greater part tolerably good, 

 and a few very excellent." The fruit of above a dozen of the 

 sorts were sent to the Horticultural Society in August, 1818, 

 and found of various degrees of excellence. The seeds, if sown 

 immediately after being gathered, will produce plants which will 

 come into bearing the following year. 



Soil and site Neill says, " Strawberries are generally placed 

 in a quarter of the garden by themselves, and it should be one 

 which is freely exposed to sun and air. They are sometimes, 

 however, planted in single rows, as edgings to borders, and in 

 this way they often produce great crops. In either case care 

 must be taken to replant them every fourth or fifth year at the 

 farthest. The alpine and mood varieties may be placed in situa- 

 tions rather cool and shady ; perhaps as an edging in the shrub- 

 bery. In such places they produce their fruit perfectly well, 

 and late in the season, which is desirable." 



General culture. The following excellent instructions for cul- 

 tivating strawberries are given by Mr. Keen of Isle worth, one 

 of the best growers of that fruit. He says, " I will com- 

 mence with a general detail of my practice ; this may be con- 

 sidered as applicable to all the varieties of the stramberry, and 

 afterwards, in noticing each kind that I cultivate, I will specify 

 such peculiarities of treatment as are exclusively applicable to 

 each. 



" In preparing the soil for strawberries, if it be new, and 

 as is frequently tiJe case, very stiff, it should be trenched, but if 

 the bottom spit of the soil, as sometimes happens, be of inferior 

 quality, I then recommend only a simple digging, placing dung 

 at the bottom underneath the mould so dug ; on the contrary, 

 should the land have been kept in a high state of cultivation or 

 be good to the full depth, it will be adviseable for the bottom 

 spit to be brought up to the top, placing the dung between the 

 spits. The best way to obtain new plants is by planting out 

 runners in a nursery for the express purpose in the previous 

 season ; for it is a very bad plan to supply a new plantation from 

 old plants. With respect to the time of planting, I have always 

 found the month of March better than any other. Sometimes 

 when my crops have failed I have had runners planted in the 

 autumn for the following year, but these have always disap- 

 pointed my expectations. 1 plant them in beds containing 3 or 

 4 rows, and the plants in each row, at a certain distance from 

 each other, leaving an alley between each bed, the distance of 

 the rows and of the plants in the rows, as well as the width of 

 the alleys, depending on the kind of strawberry planted. The 

 width of the alleys, as it will afterwards be stated, may appear 



1 



