8 THE STEAWBEERY CULTUEIST. 



HISTOET OF THE STEAWBEREY. 



How the name of Strawberry came to be applied to 

 this fruit is unknown, as the old authors do not agree ; 

 some asserting that it was given it because children used 

 to string them upon straws to sell, while others say that 

 it took its name from the fact of straw being placed 

 around the plants in order to keep the fruit clean. Its 

 name may not have been derived from either of these, 

 but from the appearance of the plant ; for when the 

 ground is covered with its runners, they certainly have 

 much of the appearance of straw being spread over the 

 ground. We have found nothing conclusive on this 

 point. 



The Strawberry does not appear to have been culti- 

 vated by the ancients, or even by the Romans, for it is 

 scarcely mentioned by any of their writers, and then not 

 in connection with the cultivated fruits or vegetables. 

 Virgil mentions it only when warning the shepherds 

 against the concealed adder when seeking flowers and 

 Strawberries. 



" Ye boys that gather flowers and strawberries, 

 Lo, hid within the grass a serpent lies." 



Several other ancient authors mention the Strawberry, 

 but all refer to it as a wild fruit, not cultivated in gar- 

 dens ; but there do not appear to have been any im- 

 proved varieties in cultivation until within about one 

 hundred years, although the wild plants were transferred 

 to gardens only in the fifteenth century, as we learn 

 from works published at that time. 



Casper Bauhin, in his " Pinax," published in 1623, 

 mentions but five varieties. Gerarde, in 1597, enumer- 

 ates but three the white, red, and green fruited. 



Parkinson, in 1656, describes the Virginian and 

 Bohemian, besides those mentioned by Gerarde. Quin- 



