4 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 3, 1890. 
is a common saying. Still it is not quite true that orchard trees will 
bear fruit for an unlimited time. It may be assumed that the thirty years 
allotted to a generation of man may also be taken as the proper life of 
an orchard, and after this time trees are no longer in their prime. You 
can easily establish this fact by the measurement of the unproductive 
trunk and branches of an old tree ; you will find the fruit pro¬ 
duced at the extremity of the branches does not compensate for the 
space occupied by the tiee both above and below ground, a large 
proportion of the fruit being undersized and certainly not able to 
compete in the markets with the fruit of younger and more vigorous 
trees. Now, it is part of our business to urge upon all the importance of 
the restoration of our farm orchards. The interests of landlord and 
tenant, not only of this generation but of those who are to succeed, 
are intimately bound up with this matter, but these interests will not 
be served by planting a few trees in a grass orchard and leaving them to 
grow without further attention. A small orchard on land carefully 
selected, well cultivated, and well fenced will be more profitable than 
a grass orchard of larger acreage planted with standard trees, and sup¬ 
posed to last for a hundred years. Every farmer knows the extreme 
difficulty of protecting trees from stock, and as he usually finds a farm 
in which the trees are o’d and rugged enough to serve as rubbing posts for 
cattle, he is inclined to leave things as they are. I hope and am sure 
that some day a thorough and beneficial change will be made in 
orchard planting, and that all farms will have properly cultivated 
fruit gardens in which orchard fruit will have its share, but no more, 
as the land will give annual and certain crops of Strawberries, Cur¬ 
rants, Gooseberries, &c., which will always reward the cultivator when 
the Apples fail. We have now obtained in this country the best 
varieties of all hardy fruits ; they are not surpassed by any other. 
This has been demonstrated by the splendid autumnal shows held at the 
Crystal Palace, and in a very remarkable degree, at the Apple and Pea 
Conference held by the Royal Horticultural Society, the invitation given 
by this Society was answered by noble collections of fruit from all parts, 
collections well worthy of the country and of the growers. 
An exhibition of hardy fruit is to be held in October at the Guild¬ 
hall, under the presidency of Sir James Whitehead, and although the 
fruit crop is not generally plentiful, there is no doubt but that this 
Exhibition will reward the most ardent hopes of the originator. It is, 
I think, the first of the exhibitions held in the City, and is designed 
partly to promote the growth of fruit amongst cottagers. The interest 
taken in this Exhibition is in every way worthy of the wealthiest city 
in the empire. Some centuries past the gardens of a part of this great 
town were famous for Strawberries. Everyone knows the story of the 
Strawberries of the Bishop of Ely, grown in Ely Place, Holborn. In 
our time these Strawberries are to be found in the streets, and I may 
say that the streets of London furnish Strawberries at this time which 
in size and flavour are equal to those in any other part of the world. The 
gentlemen who are to deliver lectures to-day are thoroughly well qualified 
for the work, and I hope that both instruction and pleasure will be 
gained from the information they have to give. There is still consider¬ 
able improvement possible in Strawberries ; for instance, all of us would 
like to have British Queens lasting from June to the end of July. The 
question of soil for Strawberries ought to be thoroughly established. 
Different sorts flourish best in different districts. I will not, however, 
detain you any longer, as these points will be thoroughly explained by 
the lecturers. 
I desire to draw attention to the very fine collection of Strawberries 
exhibited by Mr. Sharpe of Virginia Water, who has evidently the right 
soil for Strawberries, which, combined with his own skill, has produced 
a collection which is deservedly worthy of the thanks of the Association, 
and we are also much indebted to all of the exhibitors for their very fine 
collections. 
Before I conclude I should like to offer the thanks of the Association 
to our Hon. Secretary, Mr. Lewis Castle, to whose energy and skill the 
Association mainly owes its success. He has given very much valuable 
time and attention to the interests of the Society, and I shall be glad 
to record our thanks for his exertions. 
The subject of the lectures to be given to-day must always occupy a 
prominent part of any fruit orchard, as well as on Strawberry farms 
as it can be cultivated with profit and success between rows of fruit 
trees, and is certain to produce a crop sufficient to compensate for the 
failure of the fruit on the trees. There is, I understand, an enormous 
increase in the importation of Strawberries from abroad ; it is therefore 
absolutely necessary that the most careful attention should be given to 
the selection of proper sorts for the cultivation for sale, as it is positively 
certain that the best sorts will always command the highest price and 
the readiest sale. I will not detain you any longer, as time presses, and 
I will ask Mr. Shirley Hibberd to give us the history of the Strawberry, 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CULTIVATED STRAWBERRY.. 
BY MR. SHIRLEY HIBBERD. 
The cultivated Strawberry of British gardens is a comparatively 
modern fruit, for of ancient history it has none ; and consequently there 
are not many mysteries in connection with its origin, the clearing up of 
which might bring honour to the present essayist. But we have ancient 
Strawberries that can scarcely be said to be cultivated now, although 
there is something to be said for them as wholesome, agreeable fruits that 
have a somewhat picturesque history. Time was when the wild berry of 
the woods had a place in gardens, but that time has passed ; our native 
wood Strawberry has been superseded by a more stately, and in some 
respects superior fruit, that obtains from us an immensity of skill and 
care ; while as to the Strawberry of the past, it is scarcely known to any 
but wayside botanists and village children ; and these important persons 
prefer the modern British Queen, when they can get it, to the freshest 
and ripest berry from the banks. When the Duke of Gloucester sent the- 
Bishop of Ely to obtain for him some Strawberries from the Bishop’s- 
garden at Holborn, it was simply to get rid of him in aid of a conference 
with the Duke of Buckingham. But the incident has historical value,, 
as Shakespeare derived it from Sir Thomas More’s “ Tragical History off 
Richard III.,” and it tells of the esteem in which the British Fragaria. 
vesca was held in the days of the last of the Plantagenets. The Straw¬ 
berries were sent for on Friday, June 13th, 1483, at which time Mayster 
Groshede was engaged in translating into English the “ Boke of Hus¬ 
bandry,” printed by Wynkin de Worde, in which the Strawberry is not 
even mentioned. The Bishop of Ely’s garden was one of the most 
important for its productions and management in the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries ; and as at that time the wild wood Strawberry was- 
alone cultivated in this country, the incident marks the esteem of our 
forefathers for a fruit that now obtains so little attention as,in towns afe 
least, to be practically unknown. Thomas Tusser, writing his “ Hun¬ 
dred Points of Good Husbandry ” about 1557, gives directions for 
planting Strawberries, the roots of which are “ growing abroad among 
thorns in the wood,” and in his “September’s Husbandry” the Straw¬ 
berries remind him of other things then to be planted. 
“ The Gooseberry, Respis, and Roses al three, 
With Strawberries under them trimly agree.” 
Even so late as the time of Sir Hugh Platt, who wrote his “ Garden of* 
Eden ” about the year 1606, cultivated the British Strawberry in his 
garden in St. Martin’s Lane, London, where it was considered a better 
fruit than the Virginian, which at that time had been introduced^ 
although the books give a later date for it. Sir Hugh says : “ Straw¬ 
berries which grow in woods prosper best in gardens,” and this agrees- 
with the Shakesperian philosophy as spoken by the mouth of another 
Bishop of Ely in the drama of “ King Henry V.,” to the effect that 
“ The Strawberry grows underneath the nettle, 
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 
Neighbour’d by fruit of baser quality.” 
The common explanation of the name as derived from the practice off 
spreading straw on the ground to keep the fruit clean is as shallow as- 
common explanations usually are. Centuries before it became the- 
practice to strew straw for Strawberries it was known by the same- 
name as now. In the most ancient documents in which English names 
of plants occur we find the Strea-berige, Straeberia-wisan, Strebere- 
wise, and Strabery. It is the plant that strays by the aid of threads or 
wires from the parent centre to find pastures new, and in so doings 
strews or straws itself upon the soil, as quaintly put in an ancient 
song— 
“ And can the physitian make sicke men well, 
And can the magician a fortune devine, 
Without Lily, Germander, and Sops-in-wine ? 
With Sweet-bryer 
And Bon-fire 
And Strawberry-wver 
And Collumbine.” 
The above references to Shakespeare include the only occasions of 
his mention of the Strawberry, for the handkerchief spotted with Straw¬ 
berries that Othello gave to Desdemona is so described through a mis¬ 
conception of the poet’s, the truth being that the handkerchief was- 
marked with three Mulberries, which was the device of the great 
captain’s shield. It was about the time of Shakespeare, however, that 
the garden Strawberry of the present day may be said to have come into 
