231 



THE STEAWBEERY. 



The varieties of strawberries in cultivation have origin- 

 ally sprung from several species of Fragaria. Those 

 known as the pine varieties have originated from F. 

 grandifiora, a native of Carolina ; the Hautbois have 

 sprung from F. eliator, a native of England ; the Scar- 

 lets from F. Virginiana, a native of Virginia. It was 

 about the beginning of the sixteenth century that the 

 scarlet varieties were introduced into this country, pre- 

 vious to which it is supposed our own wood or wild 

 strawberry was the only one available. 



The strawberry is a grateful and universally esteemed 

 fruit. As a member of the dessert it is at all times 

 most welcome, more especially in the spring of the 

 year, when luscious fresh fruits are least plentiful and 

 most expensive in the markets. The culture of the 

 strawberry in pots for forcing is now very general in 

 gardens of the most moderate pretensions, and the art 

 of forcing it has become very perfect as compared with 

 what I recollect it to have been. It is not now an 

 uncommon thing, in the more extensive forcing estab- 

 lishments, to force from three to six thousand pots 

 annually. The strawberry is, however, one of those 



