CHAPTER EIGHT 

 STRAWBERRIES AND THEIR KIN 



1 HE strawberry is a member of the Rosaceae 

 family. There are four families of trees and plants, 

 without which mammals, including man, would 

 have found it very difficult to exist on the earth — 

 certainly to secure progressive evolution. These 

 are the rose, the cereal, the solanum, and the palm 

 families. In our temperate zone the rose or Ros- 

 acese family is the most important cooperator 

 with human kind. It includes in our orchards 

 the peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, pears, and 

 apples. But this is not all, for when we pass over 

 into our gardens we find that the blackberry, the 

 raspberry, and even the creeping strawberry are 

 all of the same kin. I have had a good deal to do 

 with a part of this family in other chapters; I am 

 here to consider the strawberry and its near kin — 

 that is, the raspberry and the blackberry, including 

 the dewberry. Think how much of the brightness 



