37 



cussion as to whether all these variations should be classed 

 as one species, or separated into different ones. Dr. 

 Asy Gray classes them all as one species, and he is un- 

 doubtedly correct. 



A few would-be authorities will not acknowledge that a 

 species can possibly be variable, and still be the same. 

 Consequently we often see long essays from such men, in 

 which thei^. Virginiana is divided into numerous species, 

 such as F. Illinoiensis, F. lowaensis, &c. We might with 

 as much propriety separate our American chestnut into 

 innumerable species, for there is as great diiierence in the 

 nuts and growth of the tree as is to be found in the com- 

 mon Strawberry. 



Free discussion in scientific matters is to a certain extent 

 beneficial; but it is doubtful whether the. present or fu- 

 ture generations will be benefited by such dissertations as 

 frequently apjDcar in some of our rural periodicals or in 

 our agricultural reports, purporting to come from intelli- 

 gent men, while the fact is apparent to every one who has 

 the least knowledge on the subject of which they treat, 

 that said articles are a mass of errors, and the authors 

 write for other pm'poses than those of giving information 

 to the people. 



For a number of years the Virginia Strawberry had no 

 successful rival in English gardens, though it was never so 

 highly appreciated in Britain as here, from the fact that it 

 is more acid and not so highly flavored in the moist cool 

 climate of that country as in our own. 



The introduction of the South American species {1<^ 

 grandiflora) gave a new hnpetus to Strawberry culture iii 

 Europe. 



The fruit naturally much larger and sweeter than any 

 of the other species, consequently it does not require so 

 (nuch heat to develop its saccharine qualities. That pe- 

 culiar aromatic sprightliness, which is such a prominent 



