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Account and Description of Strawberries. 



Class I. Scarlet Strawberries. 

 1. Old Scarlet Strawberry. This, which has been an inha- 

 bitant of our gardens nearly, if not fully, two hundred years, 

 was doubtless an original introduction from North America. 

 It is singular that a 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 considerably 

 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. 



Synonyms. 

 Scarlet. Virginian. 

 Early Scarlet. Scarlet Virginian. 



Original Scarlet. 



A good bearer and ripens early. The fruit is globular and 

 middle sized, when ripe of an uniform light scarlet, and 

 slightly hairy ; the seeds are deeply imbedded, and the inter- 

 vals between them are ridged ; the flesh is pale scarlet, firm, 

 and high flavoured. The calyx is small and spreading. The 

 leaves are rather abundant and dense, growing on slightly 

 hairy footstalks; the leaflets are large, oblong, somewhat 

 folded together, coarsely and sharply serrated, their upper 

 surface smooth, the young ones pale or yellowish green, 

 becoming afterwards' darker, and then they are liable to be 

 marked with brown stains or spots. The runners are nume- 

 rous, brownish where exposed. The scapes are short, general- 

 ly half the length of the leaf-stalk ; the peduncles of moderate 

 length ; the flowers abundant, middle sized, opening early. The 



