38 Success with Small Fruits. 



strawberries, ' Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubt- 

 less God never did ;' and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a 

 more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling." If this was true of 

 the wild Wood strawberry, how much more so of many of our aromatic 

 rubies of to-day. 



John Parkinson, the apothecary- gardener of London, whose quaint 

 work was published in 1629, is not so enthusiastic. He says of the wild 

 strawberry : " It may be eaten or chewed in the mouth without any man- 

 ner of offense ; it is no great bearer, but those it doth beare are set at the 

 toppes of the stalks, close together, pleasant to behold, and fit for a Gen- 

 tlewoman to wear on her arme, &c., as a raritie instead of a flower." 



In England, the strawberry leaf is part of the insignia of high rank, 

 since it appears in the coronets of a duke, marquis and earl. " He 

 aspires to the strawberry^leaves " is a well-known phrase abroad, and the 

 idea occurs several times in the novels of Disraeli, the present British 

 Premier. Thackeray, in his " Book of Snobs," writes : " The strawberry 

 leaves on her chariot panels are engraved on her ladyship's heart." 



After all, perhaps it is not strange that the Alpine species should be 

 allied to some dark memories, for it was the only kind known when the 

 age was darkened by passion and crime. 



The one other allusion to the strawberry in Shakspeare is peculiarly 

 appropriate to the species under consideration. In the play of Henry V., 

 an earlier Bishop of Ely says : 



" The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, 

 And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 

 Neighbored by fruit of baser quality." 



And this, probably, is still true, for the Alpine and Wood strawberries 

 tend to reproduce themselves with such unvarying exactness that cultiva- 

 tion makes but little difference. 



All these allusions apply to the F. Vesca or Alpine species, arid 

 little advance was made in strawberry culture in Europe until after the 

 introduction of other species more capable of variation and improvement. 

 Still, attempts were made from time to time. As the Alpine differed 

 somewhat from the Wood strawberry, they were brought to England 

 about 200 years later than the tragedy of Lord Hastings' death, which has 

 been referred to. 



In connection with the White and Red Wood and Alpine straw- 

 berries, we find in 1623 the name of the HAUTBOIS or Haarbeer straw- 

 berry, the Fragaria elatior of the botanists. This second species, a native 



