STRAWBERRY. 329 



The varieties of the strawberry have, like those of other 

 fruits, been so increased, that, to describe them distinctly, 

 would be almost impossible, even with the assistance of 

 coloured drawings. The president of the Horticultural 

 Society, Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., states, that he 

 has at this time not less than 400 varieties of this fruit in 

 his garden. Among those which he has raised, is one 

 from the white Chili strawberry and the pollen of the 

 black strawberry. 



Mr. Keen of Isleworth, in the county of Middlesex, 

 who is one of the greatest growers of strawberries for the 

 London market, has obligingly furnished us with his ob- 

 servations on the culture of this fruit, which afford a 

 strong instance of the advantage of botanical knowledge. 

 Mr. Keen states, that the want of education deprived him 

 of the benefit of written information ; but it will be found 

 that he has studied the book of nature to advantage. " I 

 observed/' says Mr. Keen, " that some of my strawberry 

 plants gave out abundance of male blossoms, but pro- 

 duced no fruit. I therefore, in the year 1809, had all 

 these plants taken from my beds, and had other beds made 

 with the fruit-bearing, or female plants only ; but finding 

 my crop entirely fail, and suspecting the error I had made, 

 I procured some blossoms of the male plants, which 

 having put into a bottle of water, I placed on one of my 

 beds, and in a few days perceived the fruit began to swell 

 and thrive on all the plants contiguous to the bottle. 



" Having tried the same experiment in several parts of 

 my garden with the like effect, I was convinced of the 

 necessity of the male plants in producing fruit; since 

 \\hich time, I have planted about one male plant to ten 

 female plants, which I find to be the most profitable pro- 

 portion, as my beds have since been so productive, that 

 it has been scarce possible to gather the fruit without 

 bruising others. Some strawberry plants have both male 



