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have both male and female flowers on the 

 same plant. These are not so profitable ; and 

 I find it more advantageous to raise my plants 

 from seed than by suckers. When the fruit 

 is quite ripe, I sow them in a rich moist soil, 

 and in one year the Alpines produce fruit, 

 but the other kinds require two years." From 

 the seed, Mr. Keen has procured a new 

 variety of this fruit, to which he has given 

 the name of Imperial Strawberry ; it is of a 

 dark ruby colour, and, in appearance, the 

 most beautiful of all the strawberries ; but I 

 find the flavour of it is not superior to that of 

 other kinds. Mr. Keen recommends the 

 month of March, as the best season for mak- 

 ing new beds. 



The strawberry is our earliest fruit, arid, 

 as the harbinger of the fructus hortei, its ap- 

 pearance is as welcome, as its flavour is 

 agreeable. 



I find that the old custom of putting clean 

 straw round strawberry plants, is still conti- 

 nued in some parts of Suffolk. The late Sir 

 J. Banks concludes, that their English name 

 was derived from the practice of putting straw 

 under them when the fruit began to swell, 

 as the plant has no relation to straw in any 

 other way ; and no other European language 

 applies the idea of straw in any other shape 



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