STRAWBERRIES 103 



Siberia, the forest-clad slopes of the Atlas and the 

 Himalayas. The flowers are sharply cut up into 

 five pure-white petals around a central mass of 

 yellow stamens, so that they tell out very effec- 

 tively, and the crimson fruits that follow on are 

 equally attractive and have the further recommen- 

 dation that, whereas the blossoms appeal to one 

 sense the fruit appeals to two. The leaves are of 

 a somewhat deep green and often assume a greyish 

 appearance from the silky hairs with which they are 

 more or less covered. 



Venner, in his " Via recta," bearing date 1650, 

 declares that " the wild or voluntary strawberries 

 are not so good as those that are manufactured in 

 gardens, because they consist of a more terrene 

 nature by reason whereof, as also of their styptick 

 asperity, they soon offend." That they are more 

 trouble to gather, on account of their small size, than 

 the cultivated ones cannot be denied, but when, as 

 in Switzerland or Norway, they are gathered by 

 others and the first one knows of them is their 

 appearance with delicious cream, terrene or not, 

 they form a dish by no means to be despised. If 

 Shakespeare tells of the good strawberries to be 

 found in the Holborn Garden of my lord of Ely, 

 Spenser, in his " Faerie Queene " introduces us to 

 those who "together went to the greene wood to 

 gather strawberries." The honest truth, without 

 prejudice on either hand, we take it, is that wild 



