l66 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I906. 



a pineapple strawberry as Fragaria ananassa and argued that 

 it must be a hybrid between the Chilian and the Virginian. 

 Pineapple strawberries were found in France about the same 

 time as in England, and the two, only differing from each other 

 in a slight degree, came to be regarded as variations of the same 

 stock; a type upon which Ehrhart, in 1792, bestowed the name 

 Fragaria grandiflora. 



What then is the ancestral type of cultivated strawberries?' 

 According to Barnet, whose work has been previously men- 

 tioned, there were in all 7 groups of cultivated varieties in 1824; 

 but only 4 of these were of the large fruited types. The Pine^ 

 being comparatively a new type, included 20 distinct varieties, 

 and among them one which marks an epoch in the annals of 

 strawberry culture in England, namely Keen's Seedling. From 

 Keen's Seedling, first known in London in 1821, most of the 

 modern strawberries have descended. 



At the time Keen's Seedling was produced in England, there 

 were no important varieties of American origin and for some 

 reason Keen's Seedling did not thrive in this country. Prince, 

 in 1828,* mentions 30 varieties of strawberries in American 

 gardens, all but one of which were of foreign origin, and even 

 as late as 1837 Hovey wrote, " as yet the plants of nearly all 

 the kinds under cultivation have been introduced from English 

 gardens and are not suited to our climate. f At the time Mr. 

 Hovey made this statement, however, he was at work in a sys- 

 tematic way at the breeding of plants which should meet exist- 

 ing conditions. He selected parents representing distinct ideals 

 and the best adaptation to American conditions. In one series 

 of crosses which he made 4 varieties were used. From these 

 crosses two varieties, Hovey and Boston Pine were obtained. $ 

 Owang to the loss of some labels it is not quite certain which 

 crosses gave these varieties, but, according to Bailey, Mr. Hovey 

 was always confident that the Hovey was the result of Mul- 

 berry crossed by Keen's Seedling, so that the Hovey was a true 

 pine strawberry. Hovey's Seedling was to American straw- 

 berry culture what Keen's Seedling was to English, and most 



* Treatise on Horticulture, 72. 



t Magazine of Horticulture, 3, 246, 1837. 



t Magazine of Horticulture, 6, 284, 1840. 



