July 8,1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
5 
being. The books are full of interest on this point. In Lyte’s transla¬ 
tion of the Herbal of Dodoens, 1578, the wood Strawberry alone is 
mentioned as a plant that grows in shadowy woods, and deep trenches, 
and banks, and by highway sides. In “Gerard’s Herbal,” 1597, only 
two kinds are mentioned, and they are the wood Strawberry, F. vesca, 
and the Hautbois, F. elatior, described as red and white. But in Parkin¬ 
son’s “ Paradisus,” published 1629, we have, in addition to these, the 
Virginian Strawberry and the Bohemian, and these, so far as the 
•chronology is concerned, may be considered the parents of our modern 
Strawberries. 
It is of considerable importance to note that in the introduction to 
his chapter on Strawberries Parkinson makes a distinct declaration 
that “ the wilde Strawberry that groweth in the woods is our garden 
•Strawberry, but bettered by the soyle and transplanting.” He then 
describes the red, the white, and the green forms of Alpine and Hautbois 
Strawberries, and evidently ranks the Virginian and the Bohemian far 
below them in merit, for he says “ scarce can one Strawberry be seene 
ripe among a number of plants. I think the reason thereof to be the 
want of skill or industry to order it aright. For the Bohemian and all 
other Strawberries will not bear kindly, if you suffer them to grow with 
many strings, and therefore they are stdl cut away.” That the so-called 
Bohemian Strawberry was an interesting novelty may be concluded 
from Parkinson’s description of the berries as measuring “ neere fiue 
inches about.” He says, “ Master Quester the Postmaster first brought 
them ouer in our country, as I understand, but I know no man so 
industrious in the careful planting and bringing them to perfection in 
that plentiful manner, as Master Vincent Sion who dwelt on the Banck 
e'de, near the old Paris garden stairs, who from seven roots, as he 
affirmed to me, in one yeare and a halfe, planted halfe an acre of 
ground with the increase from them, besides those he gave away to his 
friends ; and with him I have seen such, and of that bignessse before 
mentioned.” 
It will be observed that Parkinson had no success with his Virginian 
and Bohemian Strawberries. It should not surprise us that those new¬ 
comers occasioned perplexity, for the truth must be told that in the 
fifteenth and sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the cultivation of 
this fruit was understood by very few, and the produce of the wood¬ 
lands was of far more importance than that of gardens until a quite 
new race had been established. Mr. T. Hudson Turner, the eminent 
archaeologist and author of “ Manners and Household Expenses of 
England,” writing on horticulture in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
■centuries, says :— 
“ Strawberries and Raspberries rarely occur in early accounts, owing 
probably to the fact that they were not cultivated in gardens, and 
known only as wild fruit. Strawberries are named once in the House¬ 
hold Roll of the Countess of Leicester for the year 1265. The plant does 
not seem to have been much grown even at the end of the sixteenth 
century. Lawson speaks of the roots of trees being ‘powdred’ with 
Strawberiies, red, white, and green. Raspberries, Barberries, and 
Currants he describes as grown in borders. Both fruits, being in¬ 
digenous, were probably to be found plentifully in the present day in 
Italy and other parts of Europe.” 
The allusions to the fruit in poetry and the drama bear out the state¬ 
ment of the antiquary. We find in Ben Jonson a person saying : — 
“ My son hath sent you 
A pot of Strawberries gather’d in the wood 
To mingle with your cream.” 
Spenser had in mind the attractions of wood Strawberries, where, in 
the tenth canto of the sixth book of the “ Faerie Queen,” he takes 
Calidore and Corydou and Pastorell “ to the green woods to gather 
Strawberries.” 
It is a question of some interest—when did the Scarlet or Virginian 
Strawberry first reach this country? It is named in a catalogue of Jean 
Robin, botanist to Louis XIII., in 1614, and in Johnson’s “ History of 
English Gardening,” page 343, the date of its introduction to England 
is stated to be 1625, but Sir Hugh Platt possessed it in 1606. Parkinson 
had it in 1629, and, as already remarked, was unable to grow it, 
probably because the plants were allowed to run into a mat, the 
systematic propagation now practised being then unknown. Indeed, 
the author of the “Paradisus ” remarks at page 528 that “ Strawberries 
will not beare kindly if you sutler them to grow with many strings, and 
therefore they are still cut away.” The cultivation of the Strawberry, 
as described by John Evelyn at page 201 of the second volume of his 
“ Compleat Gardener,” published 1693, begins with the removal of plants 
from the woods and the putting of two or three plants in a hole, which 
is made with a stick 9 or 10 inches asunder. He recognises only two 
kinds, the red and the white, evidently knowing nothing of 1 the Virginian 
Strawberry. It appears that the system pursued ensured a crop of fruit 
in the second year after planting, and that was the only crop obtained ; 
consequently annual or biennial renewal of the beds was necessary. It 
may be assumed, moreover, that the best forms of the plant were not 
secured i i the first instance, and certainly there was no haste shown in 
raising seedlings, nor did anyone suspect the capabilities of the plant 
for variation and improvement. To obtain a faithful representation of 
the subject in what may be termed the middle period, I turn to the sixth 
edition of Miller’s “ Gardeners’ Dictionary,” published 1771, where, under 
Fragaria, I find it stated that there were four kinds of Strawberrie 3 
then in cultivation—the Wood Strawberry, Fragaria vesca ; the Scarlet 
Strawberry, F. virginiana ; Hautbois, F. muricata, “ with fruits as large 
as a small Plumb ; ” and the Chili or Frutilla Strawberry, F. chiloensis, 
“ with a large fruit and hairy fleshy leaves.” Speaking of the introduction 
of the Chili Strawberry Miller says, “ In the year 1727 I brought a 
parcel of the plants to England, which were communicated to me by 
Mr. George Clifford of Amsterdam, who had large beds of this sort 
growing in his gardens at Hartecamp. The leaves of this sort are hairy f 
oval, and of a much thicker substance than those of any sort yet known, 
and fixed upon very long hairy footstalks ; the runners from the plants 
are very large, hairy, and extend to a great length. The footstalks 
which sustain the flowers are very strong ; the leaves of the empale- 
ment (calyx) are long and hairy. The flowers are large, and often 
deformed ; so are the fruits also when cultivated in very strong land, in 
which the plants produce plenty, which are firm and well flavoured ; 
but as it is a bad bearer in most places where it has been cultivated, so 
in general it has been neglected.” 
It is of great importance—30 it appears to me—to note further what 
Miller says on some other points. In common with Parkinson he 
reports three varieties of the wood Strawberry—the red, the white, and 
the green, the last-named being particularly valued for its fine flavour. 
The scarlet Strawberry of Virginia he places high above all other sorts 
for earliness to ripen anl every other good quality, and he adds, “ it is 
so different from the wood Strawberry in leaf, flower, and fruit, that 
there need be no doubt of their being distinct species.” It startles one 
to find Miller describing the Hautbois Strawberry, which he catalogues 
F. muricata, as originally derived from America. He speaks of its 
capability of producing large fruit of a globular form a3 the result of 
good cultivation, and he adds that when neglected for a year or two 
these superior kinds degenerate to the common Hautbois. I submit 
that the samp’e of F. muricata on the table kindly suppliel by G. F. 
Wilson, Esq., F.R.S., of Weybridge, will give the reason for its name a3 
well as an explanation of its history. It is the kind described by 
Parkinson on page 528 as “ somewhat reddish, like unto a Strawberry, 
but with many small harmless prickles on them, which may be eaten 
and chewed in the mouth without any manner of offence.” This is the 
prickly Strawberry of Tradescant, formerly found wild in Hampstead 
Wood near London, now only known as a garden curiosity. It is a 
variety of the Hautbois, and when Miller says he obtained it from 
America, we need not put that down as one of his blunders, because 
our wood Strawberry has certainly been found growing wild on the 
American continent, and Miller does not say whether he obtained it a3 
a wilding or as a garden plant. 
We have thus far only two or at the utmost three species of Straw¬ 
berry before us ; these we may class as the Low wood (F. vesca), the 
High wood (F. elatior), and the Scarlet (F. virginiana). 
In the year 1759 at thi latest, the Pine Strawberry (Fragaria grandi- 
flora) was introduced. The source of this is not clearly determined r 
but Surinam is commonly named as its native country. There can be 
no objection in the nature of things to the acceptance of Surinam as 
the original home of the Pine Strawberry, for it should be observed that 
it does not take us from the American continent. Indeed there is a 
peculiar propriety in finding a Strawberry in Guiana, for we may suspect 
jt t) be but an Eastern form of the Chilian species ; which, perhaps, is 
but a Southern form of the Virginian species ; just as our wood Straw¬ 
berry is the Western, and the Hautbois the Eastern form of the European 
species ; and all five are probably radiations from one centre, and there 
cannot be a question that all will cross or breed together, as commonly 
happens with plants nearly related in origin and constitution. 
While Miller tells us he obtained the Pine Strawberry from a friend 
in Amsterdam, who derived it from Surinam, Duhamel speaks positively 
of its having been raised from the seed of the Chili Strawberry. Both 
may be right, for the Dutch settled at Surinam in 1654, and on the 
higher lands of that tropical country many plants from cool climates 
prosper ; and from the beginning of the world a Dutchman would have 
