PERPETUAL STRAWBERRIES. 
323 
abortions. L’lnepuisable was disappearing out of sight when a 
new sort was brought before the public as ‘ Eoi Henri.’ This 
was in most respects so like ‘ l’lnepuisable ’ as to be hardly 
distinguishable from it: it would scarcely deserve to be men¬ 
tioned but for one important fact, viz., that it was the first pro¬ 
duction of the man who was to originate some years later 
the first really good perpetual Strawberry, Abbe Thivolet, of 
Chenoves, Saone-et-Loire. 
According to the Abbe himself,* who has been for a long time 
a passionate lover of horticulture, he sought a departure in a 
cross between a large-fruited and the Alpine Strawberry. One 
ought to wonder if he had not. The idea is so obvious that 
the same cross was attempted times without number. But as it 
never succeeded, it is most likely that in the present instance it 
was equally inefficient. The facts related above show plainly 
enough that no such cross was needed for the production of a per¬ 
petual large Strawberry, and a change in the sexual development 
of the plant was, I think, more to the point than a change in 
the tendency to produce a succession of flower stems. 
The fate of ‘ Eoi Henri ’ turned out to be nearly the same as 
that of ‘ l’lnepuisable.’ After calling forth a certain interest it 
was dismissed by the general public as a mere curiosity. But 
not so by its raiser. He persisted in sowing seeds of his Straw¬ 
berry, both self-impregnated and crossed with other large-fruited 
kinds. His indomitable perseverance was destined to triumph at 
last. Next to Eoi Henri he raised Eobert Lefort and Leon XIII.; 
the latter especially he considered as promising. Although less 
floriferous than his previous seedlings, it set and matured its fruit 
better and more regularly. Finally, in 1893, a seedling appeared 
which flowered continuously from May till November,t and 
set a fruit for every flower. This was named ‘ St. Joseph’—with 
it “the perpetual large Strawberry was discovered.” So the 
raiser puts it, and his boast is perfectly justified. (Figs. 73 
and 74.) 
Of course there is ample room left for improvement. The 
plant is rather dwarfish and depressed; the leaves, which are of 
a dark-bluish green, are mostly spread flat on the ground ; the 
stems are short and need supporting to raise the fruit from the 
*Moniteur des Camp agues , St. Quentin. 
f On November 26, 1898, ‘ St. Joseph ’ was still blooming in my own 
garden.— Ed. 
