July 10, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
19 
have been grown in pots, b it they exhibit a free-flowering habit 
with any quantity of “graa3.” It is said to be a seedling from an 
old border Picotee most commonly known as Redbraes, though 
that is a name not nearly so old as the variety. Redbraes, it may 
he said, is a gardener’s flower. Several years ago I sent it to a well 
hnown florist, who was so disgusted with its rough marking that it 
was destroyed before the first blooms had time to expand. Not¬ 
withstanding, it is to-day more popular than any other sort. Along 
with others it seeded very freely three years ago, and I raised some 
■good varieties for the border from it, but none so good as that of 
tfche Skye Carpenter. It is quite time, I think, that flowers of this 
type should be alone recognised as worthy of being introduced. 
The flowers are not so large as numbers, but on account of its 
perfect non-splitting calyx it is of the greatest value for everyday 
work. It is rather like Germania in general appearance, and is a 
good companion flower, R. H. Elliott among fancies having the 
same good qualities.—B. 
THE BRITISH FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
STRAWBERRY CONFERENCE. 
The conclusion of two of the papers read at the above Conference 
•commenced last week is given in the present issue, and the others 
will follow at the first opportunity. 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CULTIVATED STRAWBERRY. 
BY MR. SHIRLEY HIBBERD. 
( Concluded front, page 6.') 
An important contribution to the history of this fruit will be found 
in the ninth volume of “ Le Jardin Frutier du Museum,” of Mr. J. 
Decaisne, published 1862 to 1875. The material for the article “ Le 
Fraisier” in this work was in great part supplied by Madame Elisa de 
Vilmorin, but the classic work on the subject, by M. Duchesne, pub¬ 
lished 1766, has been relied on chiefly for matters lying out of the 
region of Madame de Vilmorin’s inquiries and observations. According to 
this authority there are seven species of Strawberry. 
The wood Strawberry, Fragaria vesca, is described as freely scattered 
•over Europe, Asia, and America. It is unknown in Africa, but other¬ 
wise is a free citizen of the world. The Alpine Strawberry, F. Alpina, 
is considered by Decaisne a variety of the wood Strawberry. The 
variety known as Monophylla, the One-leaved Strawberry, of which 
there is an example on the table, was raised by M. Duchesne in 1761 
from the wood Strawberry. It is of no special interest, as the fruit does 
not differ from that of the wild plant. In the year 1887 Messrs. Lovell 
•of Driffield sent me plants of the popular Sir Joseph Paxton that had 
become one-leaved, but in the year following these plants produced 
leaves three-divided, according to the proper pattern. 
The Hautbois, F. elatior, belongs to Central Europe. It is well 
known to be partially dioecious, a fact that needs to be recognised by 
the cultivator, and one full of interest as a feature in the biology of the 
genus Fragaria. Miller’s F. muricata, with green fruit the size of a 
Plum, is a variety of the Hautbois. 
The green Pine, F. collina, described as a native of Germany, differs 
from others in some trivial peculiarities of the calyx. It is a variety of 
the Hautbois, and has no proper claim to specific distinction. 
Hagenbach’s, F. Hagenbachiana, is probably the produce of a cross 
between F. vesca and F. collina ; in other words, a hybrid of the wood 
and Hautbois Strawberries. 
The Scarlet or Virginian, F. virginiana, is described by Decaisne as 
introduced to Europe in the first half of the eighteenth century, but we 
have the testimony of Parkinson that it was in the country in the first 
half of the seventeenth century, so that Decaisne may be considered in 
error to the extent of a century in this matter. F. canadensis is the 
Canadian form of this same Scarlet Strawberry. 
The Chili, F. chiloensis, is reported by Decaisne as introduced to 
France in 1712, and he describes it as producing grand foliage and fruits 
that are sometimes as large as pullets’ eggs. He adds that it often 
requires to be fertilised by other varieties of its own species. The first 
mention of the South American Strawberry is by M. Frezier, who, in 
1716, found it at the foot of the Cordillera Mountains near Quito, and 
carried it home to Marseilles. The Spaniards reported that they 
obtained it from Mexico, and through them it may have reached Paris 
at a date anterior to its discovery by M. Frezier, which would perhaps 
justify Decaisne’s date, 1712. Mr. E. P. Roe, in his admirable book on 
“ Success with Small Fruits,” says, “ From Mr. W. Collett Sandars, an 
English antiquary. I learn that seven plants were shipped from Chili, 
and were kept alive during the voyage by water which M. Frezier saved 
from his allowance, much limited owing to a shortness of supply. He 
gave two of his plants to M. de Jussieu, who cultivated them in the 
Royal Gardens.” In 1727 the Chili Strawberry was introduced to 
England by Miller, as cited above. He describes it as a bad bearer. 
Duchesne says later importations from America to England met with 
better success, for early in the century new varieties of F. chiloensis, as 
well as of F. virginiana, became quite common, both in this country and 
on the continent. 
Decaisne adds that the varieties of the Chili Strawberry make 
amends for the smallness of their number by their beauty and ex- 
| cellence. The Pine, or Great-flowered Strawberry (F. grandiflor&), he 
declares to be of unknown origin, but incontestably a garden hybrid. 
Gray’s F. Grayana and the Californian F. lucida are forms of 
F, virginiana. The last-named has some distinctive features of leafage, 
and is very decidedly dioecious, and commonly sterile. 
Decaisne’s seven species shrink to foui when investigated, but we 
must not forget the diversity of opinion that prevails as to the limita¬ 
tions of species, and the French botanists usually lean on slender 
characters to make many species. 
In the year. 1818, when, on August 4th, Mr. Thomas Andrew Knight, 
President of the Horticultural Society of London, presented his 
memorable paper on “ The Variations of the Scarlet Strawberry,” the 
three reputed species of American Strawberries were fully established 
as garden plants, but there was nothing like a collection of varieties in 
existence. It is particularly interesting to observe that he sets out by 
declaring his belief that all the American Strawberries are “varieties 
only of one species ; for all may be made to breed together indis¬ 
criminately, and I have found that similar varieties may be obtained 
from the seeds of any of them ; and upon the same evidence I consider 
the wild Strawberry of Canada, the Bath Scarlet, and the Black, and, 
in short, all our large Strawberries, with the exception of the Hautboy, 
to be varieties of the same plant.” In evidence of his command of 
facts as the basis of criticism, he reports that he had raised 400 new 
varieties, “ some very bad, but the greater part tolerably good, and a 
few, I think, excellent.” He describes only eighteen varieties, in respect 
of which there is not much to be said. But mention should be made of 
No. 2, produced from the seed of White Chili and pollen of the Black 
Strawberry, one of the berries of which weight d 274 grains. The colour 
of the fruit was scarlet, the form conic, and not at all flattened or 
deformed.” 
That our garden Strawberries, after much crossing and selecting, 
still represent the two American species need not to be enforced, for they 
carry the evidence in their characters. But there are points of import¬ 
ance in those characters that have obtained less than their due share of 
attention. One of these is a tendency to a dioecious habit of flowering. 
A perfect flower of a Strawberry contains both stamens and stigmas 
after the proper fashion of a rosaceous plant. But it happens that 
under certain circumstances flowers containing only one set of organs 
are produced ; those that have stamens in sufficiency to be hermaphrodite 
being termed staminate, and those from which the stamens are absent 
pistillate. This part of the subject has obtained more attention in 
America than with us, but English gardeners have always had to recog¬ 
nise the fact in the cultivation of the Hautbois. This exhibits the 
dioecious tendency in so striking a manner that unless a plantation is 
closely watched, it in time becomes barren, because the male plants out¬ 
run the females, and take their place by sheer force of superior vigour. 
But it is a mistake to suppose that the staminate plants are absolutely 
necessary when the desire of the grower is to obtain Strawberries as fruits 
without any regard to the vitality of the seeds that those fruits may 
carry. The prevailing indifference to this part of the subject is scarcely 
pardonable when the business in hand is the raising of new varieties ; 
but for all the ordinary purposes of the cultivator it is certainly not of 
great consequence, because the varieties grown in this country and on 
the continent of Europe are mostly pistillate ; but as they are all capable 
of varying in their sexual capacities, the cultivator cannot with im¬ 
punity ignore the facts of Nature. Our grand British Queen is often 
said to be fastidious in its requirements as to soil and climate, but in all 
probability it occasionally proves less fruitful than its wont through 
becoming staminate, for plants can change their sex to suit their circum¬ 
stances, as I have proved in the case of the Holly, and some other garden 
plants. The frequency of the staminate form, as the case is represented 
by American culturists, is doubtless a consequence of certain peculiarities 
of the American climate, for their staminate kinds appear to become 
pistillate when removed, and the garden varieties that still rank nearest 
to F. virginiana are with us as decidedly pistillate as any. Our wood 
Strawberry is pretty constant in its floral characters, having five 
petals and four stamens to each. But the American Strawberry in its 
original form often has five or six stamens to each petal ; and occasionally 
there are seven petals and forty to forty-two stamens. On the other 
hand, the pistils of these staminate flowers are often incomplete or but 
partially developed, and there is a deficiency of fruit accordingly. 
The Chili species is often deficient of pollen, and, therefore, is advan¬ 
tageously grown with other varieties. Probably the best representative 
of the Virginian Strawberry now in our garden is the Crescent Seed¬ 
ling, an early, smallish, scarlet, sprightly flavoured fruit, that appears 
likely to become popular for the first supply. I have examined many 
flowers of this variety, and have seen no indications of the pre¬ 
dominance of either sex ; in other words, they appear to be normally 
hermaphrodite. 
In the year 1861 I made an examination of the flowers in a collection 
of Strawberries that were fruited under glass, and 100 blooms each on 
ten different varieties, making 1000 in all, were marked. The varieties 
were Scarlet Nonpareil, Black Prince, Carolina Superba, Oscar, Sir 
Harry, Empress Eugenie, Keens’ Seedling, Belle de Paris, Eleanor, and 
Sir Charles Napier. From the 1000 marked flowers 887 berries were 
gathered. Those that failed appeared to begin life with equal con¬ 
ditions with the rest, but were impaired by insects, damp or shrivelling ; 
in fact, they failed through what may be termed accidental causes, and 
not through any want of pollen to effect fertilisation, or any absence 
of stigmas to receive it. This observation was reported by me in the 
Gardeners' Magazine for August 16th, 1861. But although I do not 
urge the cultivator to watch narrowly for staminates and pistillates, I 
