THE STRAWBERRY 135 
Every plant bears several berries, seldom fewer than ten, but 
often as many as a hundred. 
Few of our fruits vary as much in size as the strawberry, 
which has been cultivated to grow so large that sixteen easily 
fill a quart box, while of the smaller varieties and the wild ones, 
it takes hundreds to fill the same measure. 
Strawberries grow wild in the country, but they are very small. 
Unlike most other fruits the wild strawberry is considered by 
most people superior to the cultivated. It is very sweet, and has 
a delicious flavor. Cultivation has improved the size rather than 
the quality of the berry. 
The birds like these berries as well as we. If you find a berry 
with holes in it, you may be almost sure that a bird has been 
eating it. 
The stamens, which are yellow at first, soon dry up and turn 
dark brown. If, now, you will examine the underside of a straw- 
berry hull, you will find a fringe of these dried and brown 
stamens. Look at the plate and you will see how they are 
arranged around the berry, and lie inside the cup made by the 
petals. So when the petals fall they still remain attached to the 
calyx, which we then call the full of the berry. That is why we 
can still see them when the strawberry is ripe. 
Drawing 
1. Make a drawing of the whole berry, showing shape, 
hull, stem, diamond pattern of seed arrangement. 
2. Make a drawing of a vertical section, showing shape, 
hull, stem, seeds on the outside. Show the fine 
