590 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



has the merit of being a good bearer, which, 

 with its being a large showy fruit, renders it 

 well fitted for market purposes. 



Chili strawberries. — Of the varieties in this 

 class Mr Thompson observes, " It may be said 

 of the Chilis generally that they are tender, 

 bad bearers, and of indifferent quality." We 

 think rather otherwise, and consider the true 

 Chili to have been the best of all the large 

 strawberries of its day, and by no means a bad 

 bearer. No doubt they are superseded now in 

 size and flavour by more modern varieties, such 

 as the British queen, &c. There are, however, 

 some extraordinary strawberries reported as in- 

 digenous to Chili, which would be worth intro- 

 ducing to our gardens. Wilmofs superb, a 

 coarse and woolly variety, originated from this 

 class, was the first variety of extraordinary 

 size produced in this country. It is probably 

 now lost in cultivation, as well as most of the 

 varieties of Chilis. 



Hautbois strawberries. — Haut-bois, literally 

 High-wood — that is, Wood strawberries, with high 

 leaves and foot-stalks. The highest-flavoured 

 strawberries belong to this class ; they have, 

 nevertheless, of late fallen into disrepute from 

 a supposed defect in their parts of fructification, 

 by reason of which many plants appear sterile ; 

 or, should they set their fruit, it, from some 

 rather obscure cause, does not swell, and, con- 

 sequently, comes not to its natural maturity. 

 From whatever cause this defect arises, it is 

 quite certain that, in former times, they were 

 noted for their abundant crops. Mr Thompson, 

 in " Catalogue of the Fruits in the Horticultural 

 Society's Gardens," thus remarks of them : 

 " Of all strawberries the Hautbois are the most 

 variable. They certainly retain a general char- 

 acter, from which they naturally do not depart ; 

 but constancy in character in varieties of this 

 class, denominated as distinct, is but little to be 

 depended on. The fruit will occasionally change 

 from globular to ovate, and the contrary; while 

 fertile plantations will produce runners that 

 may perhaps be sterile, and seedlings, many of 

 which will certainly prove so. The latter ought 

 to be carefully looked after and extirpated, which 

 can only be effectually done in new planta- 

 tions whilst the plants are single, and at the 

 time they are in blossom. It will also be neces- 

 sary to observe, that in all sorts of Hautbois here 

 enumerated there exist both the prolific, and 

 also those sterile plants commonly called males, 

 which have long stamens. They may be distin- 

 guished from the prolific by their flowers being 

 scarcely so large, with the receptacle small and 

 imperfect. The plants producing such should 

 in all cases be destroyed." The same authority 

 further states : " I believe there is no such thing 

 as distinct plants of male and female Hautbois. 

 Stamens and pistillums are to be found in either 

 a perfect or imperfect state in every individual 

 flower. Imperfection generally takes place in 

 the pistillum, together with the receptacle; to 

 see that these are sound is all that is necessary 

 to be attended to." If Hautbois had been pro- 

 pagated by seed more than any other variety of 

 strawberry — but of this we have no evidence — 

 the belief might be entertained that generation 



after generation of them were travelling back to 

 their original state, in which the same defects 

 may exist. Downing, in speaking of barren and 

 fertile plants, observes, and we think with much 

 truth : " A great deal has been said and written 

 lately respecting male and female strawberry 

 plants, and the absolute necessity of planting a 

 due proportion of both, in order to have a crop 

 of fruit. There is some practical value in this 

 notion, but, like most hobbies, it has galloped 

 considerably beyond the boundaries of sober 

 truth." The whole of the matter lies in select- 

 ing the young plants produced by old ones which 

 have perfect flowers — that is, blossom, contain- 

 ing both stamens and pistils or both male and 

 female organs of generation, which is easily done 

 by any person of common observation while the 

 plants are in bloom, or when they are in fruit, 

 and to reject all young plants produced from 

 those either defective in their organs or having 

 no fruit. Sterile plants have a natural disposi- 

 tion to propagate themselves by runners, much 

 more so than those which are producing fruit ; 

 they have not the same draught upon their 

 energies that fruit-bearing plants have, as the 

 latter have to supply nutriment to both the fruit 

 and its new progeny. These views were enter- 

 tained by Downing and George Lindley, the 

 former of whom says : " Carefully select, when 

 there is a tendency to sterility in the planta- 

 tion, only runners from the most fruitful per- 

 fect plants. This is easily done, by choosing 

 such plants when in blossom as have a natural 

 proportion of stamens and pistils, or such as, 

 when in fruit, show large well-developed trusses 

 of fruit. Set a little stake down by these, and 

 take runners only from them for your new plant- 

 ation. In this way (and we have seen it repeat- 

 edly proved) good plantations will be secured, 

 with every plant productive." If people, there- 

 fore, will, from sheer carelessness, continue to 

 propagate from runners indiscriminately, they 

 have themselves to blame if this excellent class 

 of strawberries prove unproductive. 



Large fiat hautbois. — Form roundish, or ap- 

 proaching to hemispherical ; size large, palish 

 red next the sun, very pale where shaded; 

 flesh firm, greenish white, highly perfumed; an 

 abundant bearer; retains its character better 

 than the other sorts. This is indeed one of the 

 finest of all strawberries ; but as some people 

 have a dislike to the musky flavour of the Mus- 

 cat grape, while most others like it, so with this 

 class of strawberries. Synonyms — Bath, For- 

 mosa, Weymouth, White, Salter's, Lowder's. 



Prolific, or Conical. — Fruit medium for this 

 class, conical ; dullish purple ; flesh firm, rich, 

 and highly perfumed; ripening about the begin- 

 ning of July ; an abundant bearer; flowers 

 the largest of its class ; stamens long, continu- 

 ing round the base of the fruit even to the 

 period of its ripening. Synonyms — Musk, Her- 

 maphrodite, Spring grove, Double-bearing, Dwarf, 

 Hudson's Bay of some, Regent's Sacombe, Sir 

 Joseph BanJcs', the Caperon royal and Caperon 

 hermaphrodite of the French. 



Green strawberries. — In this class there are 

 none worth particular attention. 



Alpine or Wood strawberries. — This class is 



