250 



three and a half inches in circumference. 

 Specimens have been raised, by high cultiva- 

 tion and thinning the fruit, as large as five or 

 even six inches in circumference. 



The largest Strawberry of which the writer 

 has any information, (See Farmer's Library, 

 pagel$6, Oct. No. of 1845.) was raised in 

 1845 at Doddington Hall in England. The 

 specimen was of the British Queen variety. 

 It was nine inches in circumference laterally, 

 and six inches in circumference through the 

 stem and point, being about the size of a lair 

 specimen of the Baldwin apple. This is a 

 most striking exemplification of what nature 

 can do, when assisted by the cunning inge- 

 nuity of human skill; for, doubtless, that 

 which wins our admiration, in the Brit- 

 ish Queen, meaning, of course, the straw- 

 berry, is the result, chiefly of cultivation 

 and assiduous training for successive years ; 

 just what might have been effected with any 

 other of that little ignoble, uncultivated tribe, 

 so quaintly described by Gerarde.^ 



* " Strawberries do grow upon hills and valleies. likewise in 

 woods and other such places that bee something shadowie." 



HEKBALL, p. 485. 



*> %*? 



