STRAWBERRIES 22 
mended, and after the weather proves too cold to ripen 
the fruits, the plantation should be cleared. Large 
supplies of water will be needed in dry weather, while 
hoeings, good mulchings, and doses of liquid manure 
will all materially assist-the production of a really useful, 
delicious, and exceedingly pretty crop. 
Varieties that have proved successes in this country 
are Quatre Saisons, Alpine Red, Alpine White, and 
Gunnersbury Alpine. Belle de Meaux and Berger are 
other good Alpine strawberries. 
PERPETUAL STRAWBERRIES 
Quite a new and distinct race of strawberries has 
been produced during recent years, by crossing the 
Alpine with the large-fruited garden varieties. Such a 
race had long been in the minds of many Continental 
hybridists, and not a few crosses were made, but they 
never succeeded. Experiments were also made in 
America. At last the Abbé Thivolet, of Chenoves, 
Saone-et-Loire, produced a hybrid, and named it Roi 
Henri; but its fruits were so poor, that it was only 
looked upon as a curiosity, and, in the words of M. 
Henri de Vilmorin, ‘‘It would scarcely deserve to be 
mentioned but for one important fact, viz., that it was 
the first production of the man who was to originate, 
some years later, the first really good perpetual straw- 
berry.” The Abbé “ persisted in sowing seeds of his 
strawberry, both self-impregnated and crossed with 
other large-fruited kinds,” until at last his efforts were 
rewarded with Robert Lefort and Leon XIII., and, in 
1893, there came St Joseph, the leader of the perpetuals. 
Oregon, an American perpetual, lacks the constitutional 
vigour of St Joseph; but the newer St Antoine de 
Padoue is a distinct and valuable addition. Louis 
C 
