1894] Whence Came the Cultivated Strawberry ? 295 
botanists as Fragaria Virginiana. The first distinct record of 
itin Europe is in 1624, when it was mentioned by Jean and 
Vespasien Robin, gardeners to Louis XIII. For more than a 
century it appears not to have taken on any new or striking 
forms. It bore a small bright scarlet berry, with a distinct 
constriction or neck near the stem and slightly acid flesh. It 
was in no way very different, probably, from the common wild 
strawberry which we now pick in the fields. It was never 
greatly esteemed on the continent, but in England it found 
greater favor. Duchesne writes of it, in 1766, that “they still 
cultivate it in England with favor” (avec honneur). The 
original form of the Scarlet or Virginian strawberry was still 
highly esteemed in England less than three-quarters of a cen- 
tury ago, at which time Barnet? wrote enthusiastically of it. 
“This,” [the Old Scarlet Strawberry] he says, “ which has been 
an inhabitant of our gardens nearly, if not fully, two hundred 
years, was doubtless an original introduction from North 
America. It is singular thata kind of so much excellence, as 
to be at present scarcely surpassed by any of its class, should 
have been the first known. It continued in cultivation con- 
siderably more than half of the period of its existence as a 
garden fruit, without any variety having been produced of it, 
either by seed or by importation from America.” Yet Barnet 
knew twenty-six good varieties of the species and describes 
them at length; and four of them seem to have come directly 
from America, probably from wild plants. A considerable 
progress had been made in the amelioration of the strawberry 
in England at the opening of the century, therefore, from the 
Virginian stock or foundation; but the varieties were much 
alike and contain little promise of the wonderful development 
In the strawberry varieties which we now enjoy. 
About 1712, a second species of strawberry reached Europe. 
This is the Fragaria Chiloensis, brought from Chili to, Marseilles 
by Capt. Frezier. It reached England in 1727. It is a stout, 
thick-leaved shaggy plant which bore a large globular or 
Somewhat pointed late dark colored fruit. In a few places, 
particularly about Brest, in France, it came to be cultivated 
“Trans. London Hort. Soc., vi, 152 (1824). 
