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THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



The following species are also worth mentioning : — 



Short-runnered Wild Strawberry {Fragaria collina, Ehr.). — 

 Resembles the common Wild Strawberry, excepting that the 

 runners are not jointed ; from the Alpine Strawberry it differs 

 in not fruiting continuously. The fruit is more like that of the 

 Hautbois than any other kind. 



Scarlet Virginia Strawberry {Fragarza Virgmmna, Ehr.). — 

 Native of North America. — A stoloniferous plant, with long smooth 

 leaves and small round fruit, very slender stalks, and deeply sunk, 

 small and brown seed. It is an early and a hardy, but not con- 

 tinuous bearer. The fruit is very small, and rather light scarlet 

 even when ripe. 



Chili Strawberry {Fragarza Chilensis, Duch.). — Native of Chili. 

 — A stoloniferous species, of compact growth, very hairy on all its 

 parts. Fruit large, irregular in shape, orange-coloured and more 

 or less hairy. The fruit ripens late, and varies in form and colour. 

 Not very hardy, and succeeds only in seaside districts, especially 

 in Brittany. 



PINE-APPLE STRAWBERRY 



Fragarza grandiflora, Ehrh. 



Fraisier Ananas. 



The origin of this large-fruited form of Strawberry is very 

 obscure. At the time of its introduction into cultivation, about the 

 middle of the eighteenth century, it was not exactly known how it 

 originated. Moreover, two kinds of Strawberry have been known 

 by this name — one, described by Poiteau, which is not the true 

 Pine-apple Strawberry ; the other, which is much more extensively 

 grown, especially in England and Holland, appears to have produced, 

 either by variation or perhaps from crossing, most of the large- 

 fruited kinds known as " English " Strawberries. It is very 

 possible that the Pine-apple Strawberry itself is the offspring of 

 a cross between the Chili Strawberry and some other botanical 

 species. The typical plant, as preserved in some collections, is of 

 a vigorous and rather thick-set habit of growth. The leaves are 

 rather like those of the Scarlet Virginia Strawberry ; the flower- 

 stems are stout, not very tall, and somewhat hairy, and the flowers 

 are very large ; the fruit is round or slightly heart-shaped, and of 

 a pale pink colour, with a faint yellow or salmon-coloured tint ; the 

 flesh is very white and often hollow at the centre ; the seed is 

 brown, medium-sized, and not very deeply sunk. 



From the seed of this Strawberry thousands of distinct varieties 

 have been raised, and of these we shall now describe the best and 

 most noteworthy. 



