WL^y. 65 



are still more numerous beneath the shelter of 

 the overarching boughs. This flower is of the 

 rosaceous family of plants, its shape being like 

 that of the wild brier-rose, and all fruits grow- 

 ing on a plant bearing this shaped flower, may 

 be safely eaten. A more wholesome, or a sweeter 

 fruit than this, cannot be gathered. The wood- 

 strawberry is common throughout Great Britain. 

 It is equally so in the woods of France ; and the 

 Parisians esteem this small fruit, and that of 

 the equally small alpine strawberiy, as far supe- 

 rior to the hautboy. 



The different kinds of strawberry are natives 

 of temperate, or cold climates, and are common 

 in Europe, and the greater part of America. 

 They also often present themselves to the eye 

 of the traveller, on the hill-sides of Asia and 

 Africa. In cold countries, berries generally are 

 more abundant than in warmer regions, and the 

 wild strawberry grows in great quantities in the 

 woods of Sweden, and is nmch valued for 

 desserts. Linnaeus considered it the most 

 wholesome of all fruits^ and records that he, in 

 two instances, was cured of fits of the gout by 

 eating wild strawljcrries. It is commonly carried 

 about the towns of Sweden for sale, and the 

 great botanist desired his servants to purchase, 

 at all times, the strawberries which were offered 

 at his door, however large the quantity. Hoff- 

 man thought that, if eaten in the early stage of 

 consumption, they would arrest the progress of 

 that malady. 



The hautboy strawberry (Frag aria ehttiur) 

 c 



