THE FRUIT 



SPECIES OF STRAWBERRIES 331 



The fruit. 



The first character of the fruit to be noted 

 is the season of ripening, the terms early, 

 midseason, and late being used to denote time 

 of maturity. Varieties usually follow the same 

 order in ripening, but they may not do so, 

 the exception being in seasons of extreme 

 heat or cold. It is impossible to give the 

 relative time of ripening for fall-bearing varie- 

 ties, so great is the variability of these sorts. 

 Environment and care greatly affect the time 

 of maturity. Varieties ripening very early or 

 very late are seldom heavy yielders. The 

 length of the ripening season and the number 

 of pickings vary greatly with different varie- 

 ties. 



The size of berries is so variable as to be 

 rather unreliable for purposes of identification; 

 however, the fruits of some varieties run 

 uniformly small and of others, large. For 

 home and local markets, varieties having ber- 

 ries of large size are most desired, while for 

 distant shipments berries of medium size are 

 best, since they do not bruise so badly m 

 handling. Some sorts bear large fruits at the 

 first picking, after which the berries run small 

 an undesirable character. 



Shape of fruit is a valuable distinguishing 

 mark. The commonest shapes are conic, ob- 

 long, oblate, round, and wedge-shape; usually 

 it requires a combination of these terms to 

 describe the character. Occasionally obovate 

 berries are found. Varieties with fruits of 

 cockscomb shape are rather common, and ber- 

 ries of any of the shapes given may have 

 a neck. Some berries are furrowed. Usually 

 the fruits of a variety are markedly regular 

 or irregular. . 



The apex of the berry in different varieties 

 may be pointed, obtuse, indented, green-tipped, 

 hard, or soft. Round berries without a promi- 

 nent tip are now most desirable. ^^ 



Seeds may be large or small, fe^tor many, 

 raised or sunken, brown or yellow. Seedy 

 berries are unattractive; therefor^ the seeds 

 in a good fruit should be few and small. 

 Yellow seeds are more attractive than darker 

 ones. The flesh is better protected when 

 seeds are raised than when sunken; therefore 

 berries with raised seeds carry to market 

 better. 



The color of strawberries varies from white 

 to red and from red to dark maroon. Nearly 

 all varieties now under cultivation may be 

 described as light red, medium red and dark 

 red, to which terms the prefix dull or glossy 

 will often have to be applied. The color 

 may be marbled or uniform. Dark red varie- 

 ties are now preferred. White varieties are 

 usually blushed with pink. Dark-colored ber- 

 ries show bruises less than light-colored ones. 

 A white tip is a defect. 



The color of the flesh is almost as much 

 a standard means of identification as the 

 color of the surface. The flesh is usually de- 

 scribed as the same as the surface, lighter 

 than the surface, or darker than the surface. 



The flesh is whiter toward the center in some 

 varieties. Dark red flesh is most to be desired, 

 while white is the most objectionable color. 

 The red color of the flesh must persist in 

 canned strawberries to obtain a well-finished 

 product. 



Texture and juiciness of pulp are so variable 

 as to have little value for descriptive pur- 

 poses, but are important characters to the 

 grower. For shipping or for canning, the 

 berries must be firm. The flesh may be dry 

 or juicy, coarse, fine-grained, or stringy, and 

 the core may be hollow, hard, or soft. Hard, 

 stringy cores are objectionable. "Fig straw- 

 berries" are those so sweet and dry that they 

 may be sun-dried, and so make a fig-like pro- 

 duct. 



The flavors are sweet, neutral or flat, sub- 

 acid, tart, and sour. These flavors may be 

 qualified by such terms as rich, highly flav- 

 ored, sprightly and mild. All strawberries are 

 more or less aromatic. Subacid sorts are in 

 greatest demand. Climate greatly modifies 

 flavor as does soil, although to a much smaller 

 degree. 



Quality in a strawberry is that combination 

 of color, flavor, aroma, and texture which 

 pleases the several senses. Quality is de- 

 scribed as best, very good, fair, poor and very 

 poor. For the reason that quality is variable, 

 and because tastes vary, quality is of little 

 importance in identifying varieties, but mani- 

 festly is a character the grower must always 

 consider. Upon quality largely depends the 

 classification as to use of a variety, whether 

 for dessert or culinary purposes. 



The description blank for the strawberry on 

 the next page sets forth most of the characters 

 students and fruit-growers will use in describ- 

 ing strawberries. 



SPECIES OF STRAWBERRIES 



The genus Fragaria is widely distributed, 

 no continent or large body of land being with- 

 out an indigenous species. While Fragaria 

 grows most abundantly in temperate climates, 

 yet forms are found in the tropics, and, if 

 not in arctic regions, at least to their very 

 borders. Thus widely diffused, the species 

 are exceedingly variable, and no fewer than 

 150 names have been applied to the different 

 forms. Fortunately for nomenclature, horti- 

 culturists can agree that cultivated forms came 

 from four species-types. 



1. Fragaria virginiana, Duchesne. Scarlet Straw- 

 berry. Virginian Strawberry. Plant small, slender, 

 erect, with slender, wiry, rather deeply-set roots ; run- 

 ners numerous, long, appearing with and after the 

 blossoms. Leaves radical ; leaflets rather large, thin 

 but leathery, light green, tomentose when young, 

 glabrous at maturity, three, obovate-wedge-form, 

 coarsely serrate. Flowers and flower-clusters small ; 

 borne in a few-flowered cyme at the top of a rather 

 long, slender, weak, slightly villous scape ; calyx of 

 medium size or rather small. Fruits early, small ; 

 globular or oblong-conical, usually markedly necked ; 

 color light scarlet, sometimes white ; flesh usually pink, 

 sprightly acidulous, aromatic; seeds yellow, sunken 

 deeply in angular pits. 



