194 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



4 in. diam. 



fin 



3 



¥ 

 7 



in. 

 in. 



1 in. 

 liin. 

 liin. 

 If in. 

 l|in. 

 If in. 

 If in. 

 l|in. 



2 in. 

 2|in. 

 2iin. 

 2|in. 



I] 



1 1^12 



'] 



11 50 



18 f 



16J 

 161 

 18 

 8 

 11 



21 

 iJ 

 119 



^53 



These varieties included foreign as well as American sorts, and 

 the smaller measurements came mostly from the Alpines. Con- 

 sidering this circumstance we may well reflect upon the significance 

 of the berries figured in the "Hortus Eystettensis," 1613, as an inch 

 and three-eighths in diameter. This table also serves to discredit 

 the charge of exaggeration so frequently made against our cata- 

 logue writers, for but few of us have not seen berries as large and 

 even larger than these figures average, or even as the extreme. 



The strawberry plant is variable in nature, and it seems probable 

 that the type of all the varieties noted under cultivation may be 

 found in the wild plant, if diligently sought for. In the Maine 

 fields I have found plants of Fragaria vesca with roundish, as well 

 as elongated fruit ; of Fragaria Virginiana with roundish berries 

 and elongated berries, with berries produced into a distinct neck 

 and those not so produced ; of a deep red, scarlet, and palish 

 color ; with large fruit and small fruit ; with large growth and small 

 growth, according to the fertility of the soil. 



As to color of fruit, white strawberries, to be referred to 

 Fragaria vesca, are mentioned by Ruellius in 1536, and by a host 

 of following writers. Peck has found white berries of this species 

 about Skaneateles, New York. A white fruited variety of F. 

 Virginiana is noted by Dewey as abundant in the eastern portion 



