NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE STRAWBERRY. 193 



The strawbem' is figured fairh' well in the " Ortus Sanitatis," 

 1511, c. 188, but there is no mention of culture, not necessitated 

 by the context. Ruellius, however, in 1536 speaks of it as growing 

 wild in shady situations, and as in gardens furnishing a larger 

 fruit, and mentions even a white variety. Fuchsius in 1542 also 

 speaks of the larger garden variety, and Estienue in 1545 (perhaps 

 also in his first edition of the " De Re Hortensi," 1535), sa3'8 

 strawberries are used as delicacies on the table, with sugar and 

 cream, or wine, and that they are of the size of a hazel nut ; he 

 says the plants bear most palatable fruit, red, especiall}' when they 

 are fully ripe ; that some grow on the mountains and woods, and 

 are wild, but that some cultivated ones are so odorous that 

 nothing can be more so, and that these are larger, and some are 

 white, others red, yet others are both red and white. Cultivated 

 strawberries are also noted by many authors of this century, as by 

 Mizaldus in 1560; Pena and Lobel in 1571 ; and in 1586 Lyte's 

 Dodoens records, " they be also much planted in gardens." Porta 

 in 1592 regards them as among the delicacies of the garden and 

 the delights of the palate. Hjil in 1593 says " they be much eaten 

 at all men's tables," and that " they will grow in gardens unto the 

 bigness of a mulberry." "Le Jardinier Solitaire," 1612, gives direc- 

 tions for planting, and Parkinson in 1629 notes a number of varieties. 

 As to size, Dorstenius in 1540 speaks of them as of the size of 

 a hazel nut ; Bauhin in 1596 as being double the size of the wild ; 

 the " Hortus Eystettensis," 1613, figures berries one and three- 

 eighths inches in diameter ; Parkinson in 1629, as " neere five inches 

 about;" Plat in 1^53, as two Inches about in bigness; Vaillant 

 in 1727 as an inch and sometimes more in diameter. It remained 

 for Frezier, who discovered the Fragaria Cidloensis, and brought 

 it to Europe in 1712, to describe fruit as of the size of a walnut, 

 sometimes as large as an egg ; and Burbidge a recent writer 

 says that in the Equatorial Andes, in the province of Ambato, 

 there are strawberries growing wild, equal in size and flavor to some 

 of our best varieties. 



A careful examination of recent sale catalogues, at my command 

 shows seventy-eight varieties figured. 



The one hundred and nineteen different wood-cuts of these 

 seventy-eight varieties, gave the following measurements : 

 13 



