48 FLOWERS AND FRUITS. 



from Nature, and in it gave the best history yet known of the 

 Strawberry. This humble plant delights to grow in our woods, and 

 to cover their borders with delicious fruit, which is the property of 

 any one who chooses to gather it. In the United States they are 

 great favorites, and every year presents us with new varieties, 

 vying with each other in size and flavor. The soil should be light, 

 warm and gravelly, without the least mixture of any thing, except 

 rotten leaves, decayed wood, and a small quantity of ashes. They 

 are transplanted in August, the old leaves cut off, leaving only those 

 in the centre ; and planted a foot apart. It may also be propagated 

 by seeds, which if sown immediately after gathering, will produce 

 plants, which will come into bearing the following year. It is made 

 the emblem of PERFECT EXCELLENCE. It is found at all seasons 

 of the year, amid the glaciers of the lofty Alps. When the sun 

 burnt traveller, oppressed with fatigue upon those rocks which are 

 as old as the world, vainly seeks a hut to rest himself, unexpectedly 

 he sees emerging from the midst of the rocks, troops of young 

 girls advancing towards him, with baskets of perfumed strawberries. 

 It seems as though each rock and every tree, were kept by one of 

 these nymphs, as placed by Tasso at the gate of the enchanted 

 gardens of Armida. As seducing, though less dangerous, the 

 young Swiss peasants in offering their charming baskets to the 

 traveller, instead of retarding his progress, give him strength to 

 pursue his journey. The Strawberry has the property of not 

 undergoing the acetous fermentation in the stomach, and its fruit 

 has sometimes restored to health, patients given over by every 

 physician. The celebrated Linnaeus, was cured of frequent attacks 

 of the gout by their use, a remedy that has since failed, however, in 

 almost every case, with others. 



