88 



SMALL FRUIT CFLTURIST. 



feature in the F, Yirglniana^ is, however, almost entirely 

 wanting in other species. 



The same dissecting process has been applied to the 

 South American species as to our northern one, and it u 

 sometimes called F. Chiliensis^ F, JBonariensis^ &c. — the 

 name usually indicating the place from which the supposed 

 distinct species was derived. That the different varieties 

 discovered in the various portions of the country are quite 

 distinct, everyone who is acquainted with them will admit. 

 Yet these variations are no greater than have already 

 been mentioned in those of other species. 



The first account we have of the South American Straw- 

 berry is in 1716, when M. Frezier, in his voyage to the 

 South Sea, foimd it at the foot of the Cordillera Mountains, 

 near Quito, and carried it home to Marseilles, in France. 



It was at that time called the Chili Strawberry, and the 

 Spaniards said that they had previously brought it from 

 Mexico. 



We do not learn from any of the old French works that 

 any new varieties were raised from the Chili Strawberry 

 for at least fifty years after its introduction. Duchesne, in 

 1766, says "that Miller considered its cultivation as aban- 

 doned in England on account of its sterility." The impor- 

 tations from other portions of South America appear to 

 have met with better success, and about fifty years ago 

 new varieties of the F. grandijlora^ as well as of the Vu*- 

 giniana, became quite abundant in England and on the 

 Continent. 



At the present time the varieties of F. grand'fflora appear 

 to be valued more highly in Europe than any other — at least 

 we judge so from the fact that almost all of the new varie- 

 ties imported of late years show more of the characteristics 

 ot this species than of others. This may account for the 

 failure of so many of the new foreign varieties in tho 

 Northern States. The severe cold of our winters, and ou? 



