116 
THE FLORIST AND FOAIOLOGIST. 
four hundred pages, and comprises three di¬ 
visions. The first treats on what M. de 
Lambertye calls “ Botanythe second “ His¬ 
tory and the third “ Culture.” 
In the first we have, first of all, the cha¬ 
racters of the genus Fragaria, and then the 
various species are very minutely described. 
In treating of this part of the subject the 
author adopts the classification of M. Gay, 
who divides them into first the European 
species, F. vesca, F. elatior, and F. collina; 
second the American, F. chiloensis, F. virgin- 
iana, and F. Grayana; third the Asiatic, 
F. Daltoniana, and F. nilgerrensis. 
The first of these, with its variety Semper- 
florens, are the Wood and Alpine Strawberries 
of our gardens ; and there is another variety, 
of which Linnaeus formed a species under the 
name of Muricata, which is the old Plymouth 
Strawberry mentioned by G-erarde and Parkin¬ 
son. Gerarde, writing of it in 1597, says :— 
“Mr. John Tradescant hath told me that he 
was the first that tooke notice of this Straw¬ 
berry, and that in a woman’s garden at 
Plimouth, whose daughter had gathered and 
set the roots in her garden instead of the 
common Straw-berry.” Parkinson, writing 
in 1629, says:—“It is in leafe much like 
vnto the ordinary, but differeth in that the 
flower, if it haue any, is greene, or rather it 
beareth a small head of greene leaues, many 
set thicke together like vnto a double ruffe, 
in the midst whereof standeth the fruit, which, 
when it is ripe, sheweth to be soft and som- 
what reddish, like vnto a Strawberry, but with 
many small harmlesse prickles on them, which 
may be eaten and chewed in the mouth with¬ 
out any maner of offence, and is somewhat 
pleasant like a Strawberry: it is no great 
bearer, but those it doth beare, are set at the 
toppes of the stalks close together, pleasant 
to behold, and fit for a gentlewoman to weare 
on her arme, &c., as a raritie in stead of a 
flower.” 
That this is not really a species, however, 
is shown by M. de Lambertye from the follow- 
ing circumstance. “ On the 19th May, 1830, 
M. Jacquin had presented to the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society of Paris an extraordinary 
Strawberry that one of his correspondents 
had obtained in a seed-bed of Alpines, and 
which had been immediately recognised to 
be F. muricata of Linnaeus. Thus it is 
proved that this Strawberry, preserved up till 
1843 in the Jardin du Roi by the care of 
M. Pepin, is a monstrous variety of the 
Alpine.” 
In F. elatior we have the type of the Haut- 
bois called by the French Capron . In treat¬ 
ing of this species our author mentions the 
Royal Hautbois, whicli is the same as our 
Prolific Hautbois; the Raspberry Hautbois, 
a pretty large round variety, with melting 
vinous flesh, and with the flavour of a Rasp¬ 
berry ; and the Apricot Hautbois, also a 
pretty large variety, and with the flavour of 
the common sort. 
F. collina completes the list of European 
species, and this is the type of what are 
called the Green Strawberries. Of this M. de 
Lambertye gives us six varieties, all of which 
he describes most minutely. But as our 
space is limited we cannot prosecute the 
subject farther at present. In our next we 
shall return to it; and, meanwhile, we shall 
conclude by complimenting Le Comte de 
Lambertye on his masterly work, and in 
recommending it to our readers we assure 
them they will not be disappointed by a 
perusal of it. 
OUR MONTHLY CHRONICLE. 
Hew Gardens. —Sir W. J. Hooker has, of 
course, to report a smaller number of visitors 
at Kew in 1863 than in the Exhibition year. 
Still, they exceeded 400,000. On one Sun¬ 
day there were 12,441, and on one week day 
11,631. The number of scientific visitors, 
and of persons frequenting the museum and 
palm-houses for purposes of instruction, has 
increased. Many improvements in the gar¬ 
dens are in progress or contemplated. The 
duties of the department of the herbarium 
are rapidly increasing, owing to the demands 
made upon it by various departments of the 
Government; the receipt of large collections 
from important Government expeditions; the 
applications for advice from persons proceed¬ 
ing to take charge of plantations of Tea, Cin¬ 
chona, Cotton, Coffee, &c.; and the redoubled 
activity of the colonies in the publication of 
their Floras, which, though paid for by the 
colonial governments, can only be prepared 
at Kew, or by persons in direct and constant 
correspondence with its herbaria and museums. 
The Flora of the British possessions in India 
is to be proceeded with upon the same plan as 
the colonial Floras, and has been commenced 
in the herbarium by Dr. Thomson. Very 
satisfactory reports are received of the success 
of the introduction of Cinchona plantations 
in India, in the establishment of which Kew 
has had so large a share. In the nurseries 
on the Neilgherrie Hill there were, in Decem¬ 
ber last, nearly 260,000 plants, of which more 
than 66,000 were planted out. One was 
nearly 10 feet high. The bark has been 
analysed, and the result is entirely satisfac¬ 
tory* There are 8000 plants in the Darjeeling 
plantations, Himalaya, and 22,000 in Ceylon. 
Steps have been taken at the request of the 
Government of South Australia to introduce 
