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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



By Mr. A. F. Barron, Superintendent of the Society's Gardens 



at Chiswick. 



[Read June 25, 1889.] 



Amongst our hardy English fruits there is none held in higher 

 repute than the strawberry. It is an almost universal favourite, 

 and being the first fruit of the year that ripens in our gardens, 

 receives on that account the first and a very large share of 

 attention and regard. What is more beautiful or more tempting 

 than a dish of fresh -gathered strawberries, both the eye and 

 the palate being appealed to ? 



The strawberry ranks as one of our native fruits, the wild 

 form being found growing plentifully in our woods and hedge- 

 rows, in many parts of the country, and pretty generally in all 

 the temperate regions of Europe and America. 



As a cultivated plant, it is one of the oldest on record — so far 

 back as the reign of Richard III. (1483) excellent strawberries 

 are reported as growing in the Bishop of Ely's garden in Hol- 

 born, and Hyll (1593) tells us that " strawberries be much eaten 

 at all men's tables, and that they will grow in gardens to the 

 bigness of a mullberry." In Gerard's Herbal, of about the 

 same date, the first mention is made of white strawberries. 



Although strawberries were known to the Romans in the 

 time of Pliny, they do not appear to have been cultivated by 

 them at all, or to have been of any repute — the climate of Italy, 

 excepting on the higher lands, being probably too hot to grow 

 them to perfection. 



Botanically, the strawberry belongs to the genus Fragaria, of 

 which there are a good many species — the common wild wood- 

 strawberry being Fragaria vesca and probably the only one culti- 

 vated in Europe until near the end of the last century, when 

 Fragaria virginiana was introduced from America. 



As regards the origin of the varieties now under cultivation, 

 some botanists ascribe all to Fragaria vesca, and look upon it as 

 the original form. I am not able to adopt that altogether. I am 

 hardly prepared to admit that the magnificent fruits we now 

 possess have been derived from the wild form of the woods. 

 They seem to me so utterly and entirely distinct. 



