A CLUSTER OF BERRIES 137 



Its generic name of Fragaria was given it by the old 

 Romans because of its inviting perfume. Its second 

 baptismal name of " straw," by which we of to-day designate 

 it. had also ancient origin of which, however, two ex- 

 planations are given, one tradition asserting that it came 

 from the Anglo-Saxon "strae," meaning to stray (because 

 of the vine's wandering habits), and from which we derive 

 directly our English verb "stray." But the name is 

 also said to have come from the old English custom of placing 

 straw under the plants to mulch or to prevent the friiit 

 from rotting. 



It is not everyone who can eat strawberries, unfortunately, 

 as their decided ^nd peculiar fonn of acids dpes not agree 

 with everyone, but these people are exceptions and should 

 know that the addition of a little Cayenne pepper will not 

 unpleasantly detract froni the fruit and will very often 

 prevent difficulties in the digesting of them. They con- 

 tain such proportion of citric and malic acids and salts of 

 linie that in general they are considered excellent for those 

 of gouty or bilious temperament and even when acids are 

 supposedly contra-indicated they prove acceptable to the 

 systein if taken with a small quantity of bicarbonate of 

 potash (see Note i: Preface). Holbrook states that 

 the use of this berry cured Wilson, the ornithologist, of 

 chronic malarial fever after the doctors had failed. An- 

 other celebrated cure, handed down among strawberry 

 devotees, was that of the botanist Linnaeus from gout, and 

 patients of lesser note have been entirely relieved of liver 

 troubles and m9,ladies associated with the respiratory 

 organs, particularly the lungs. One Swiss physician re- 

 ported as restricting patients with serious pulmonary 

 diseases to an almost exclusive diet of strawberries. 



Wild strawberries are more readily digestible than aU 

 most any berry known and the red drops, like heart's 



