FRAG 
and !efs hairy; the flower-ftems are flrorter ; the flower- 
buds more lengthened out, and lefs fwoln ; the diviflons 
of the calyx larger, and the little ones feldom divided ; 
the petals rather fmaller, and fel'iom more than five in 
number7 the fruit fmaller, more regular in the form, of 
a higher colour, and the perfume not fo pleafant. The 
pine varies little, when raifed from feed ; whereas this 
varies much in the flower, fruits, &c. 
The wood flrawberry has been cultivated time imme¬ 
morial. With us, we can go back at lead to the time of 
"Richard III. when the biflrop of Ely cultivated this fruit 
in the garden of his palace in Holborn, as related in 
Stow’s Annals. The paffage, having been minutely co¬ 
pied by Shakefpeare, is well known. The other varieties 
were long before they came into cultivation. Gerarde 
{1597) makes mention of none but the common wood 
ftrawberry, with its fubordinate varieties, the white and 
the green, which he fays are rare. To thefe Parkinlon 
(1629) adds the Virginia, which we now call the fear let 
flrawberry ; and the Bohemia, of which -he gives tire fol¬ 
lowing account: “It hath been with us but of late days. 
Matter Quetter the pofimatter fir ft brought them over in¬ 
to our country; but I know no man fo indnftrious in the 
careful planting and bringing them to perfection in that 
plentiful manner, as Matter Vincent Sion, on the Bank- 
tide, near Paris-garden-ftairs, who from feven roots, in 
one year and a half, planted half an acre of ground with 
the increafe from them, befides thofe he gave away to 
his friends.” After this, no addition feems to have been 
made to ourftock until 1727, when Mr. Miller imported 
the Chili flrawberry, which Frezier had brought to Mar- 
feilles about 1712. It flowered in the Eltham garden in 
the year 1730, but it had not then produced ripe fruit. 
In 1720, Bradley fays, we had only three forts ot ftraw- 
berries, the fcarlet, the hautboy, or great white ft raw - 
berry, and the wood ftrawberry. Mortimer has the red 
wood, white wood, long red, polonian, and green, ftraw¬ 
berry ; he fpeaks of the fcarlet as having been lately in¬ 
troduced from New England. Strawberries, either eaten 
alone, or with fugar or milk, are univerfally efteemed a 
1110ft delicious fruit : they are grateful, cooling, fubacid, 
juicy, and have a delightful fmell. Taken even in large 
quantities, they feldom dffagree with the ftomach. They 
promote perfpiration, impart a violent feent to the urine, 
and diflolve the tartarous incriiftations upon the teeth. 
Perfons afflifted with the gout or ftone have found great 
relief by nfing them profufely. Linnaeus informs 11s, that 
by eating plentifully of them every day, he kept himfelf 
almoft free from the gout. Hoffman affirms, that he has 
known confumptive people cured by them. The bark 
of the root is aftringent, like the tormentil, and the reft 
of its congeners. 
2. Fragaria monophylla, or fimple-leaved ftrawberry : 
leaves Ample. -The fcape or flowering-ftem of this is 
longer than it ufually is in the common wood fhjayyberry, 
the petals are fmaller, and the calyxes are gafhed. This 
however is frequently the cafe with the common wild 
fort in woods: and the others are very iuconfiderable dif¬ 
ferences, efpecially in a genus fo liable to variation as 
this. It was originally raifedat Verfaiiles by M. Duchefie 
in the year 1761, from feeds of the wood ftrawberry. It 
agrees with its parent in the time of flowering and fruit¬ 
ing ; nor does the form, fize, or flavour, of the fruit, differ 
more from that than might be expeCted from culture. 
3. Fragaria fterilis, or barren ftrawberry: ftem decum¬ 
bent; flowering branches lax. The name o f Jlerilis, or 
barren, is not given to this fpecies becaufe it does not 
produce perfedt feed, for it certainly does, but becaufe 
the receptacle is not flefliy and eatable. This fpecies is 
very diftindt from the other ; and, according to the obfer- 
yation of Curtis, Leers, &c. its frudtification has a greater 
affinity with Potentilla, between which genus and Fragaria 
this fpecies feems to be the link. It flowers earlier than 
jhe other, namely in March, and is common in woods and 
ARIA. 639 
hedges, and on fome heaths, in S witter land, and in Ger¬ 
many, as well as Britain ; alfo in Japan. 
Propagation and Culture. Stray, ben ies in general love 
a gentle hazelly loam, in which they will thrive and 
bear greater plenty of fruit titan in a light rich foil. The 
ground fliould alfo be moift ; for if it be very dry, all 
the water ing which is given to the plants in warm dry fea- 
fons, will not be fufficient to procure plenty of fruit; nor 
fliould the ground be much dunged, for that will caufe 
the plants to run into fuckers, and grow luxuriant, and 
render them lefs fruitful. The beft time to remove thefe 
plants is in Odlober, that they may get new roots before 
the hard froft lets in, which loofens the ground ; fo that 
if the roots of the plants are not pretty well eftablifhed in 
the ground, the plants are frequently turned out of the 
ground by the fit ft thaw ; therefore the fooner they are 
planted when the autumnal tains begin, the lefs danger 
will there be of their milcarrying ; and fometimes thofe 
which are well rooted, will produce a few fruit the fit ft; 
year; there are fome who tranfplant them in the fpt^ng; 
but where that is done, they muft be duly fupplied with 
water in the dry weather. 
The ground in which thefe are planted fliould be tho¬ 
roughly cleaned from the roots of t'he couch, and all 
other bad weeds ; for as the ftrawberry plants are to re¬ 
main three years before they ate taken up, if any of the 
roots of thofe bad weeds are left in the ground, they will 
have time to multiply fo greatly as to fill the ground, 
and overbear tlie ftrawberry plants. The ground ftiould 
alfo be well trenched and made level ; then the ufual me¬ 
thod is to lay it out into beds of four feet broad, with 
paths two feet or two feet and a half broad between each ; 
thefe paths are neceffary for the convenience of gathering 
the fruit, and for weeding and dretting the beds, and alfo 
for watering the plants; after the beds are marked out, 
there ftiould be four lines drawn in each, at a foot dif- 
tar.ee, which will leave fix inches fpace on each fide, be¬ 
tween the outfide rows and the paths; then the plants 
fliuuid be planted at about a foot diftance from each other 
in the rows, in a quincunx order, being careful to clofe 
t lie ground to the roots of the plants when they are planted ; 
and if there ftiould not happen rain foon after, the plants 
fliould be well watered to fettle the earth to their roots. 
The diftance here mentioned muft be underftood for the 
wood ftrawberries only, for as the other forts grow much 
larger, their diftances muft be proportioned to their feve- 
ra! growths; therefore the fcarlets and hautboys ftiould 
have but three rows of plants in each bed, which fliould 
be at fifteen inches diftance, and the plants in the rows 
ftiould be allowed the fame fpace from each other; and 
the Chili and other large ftrawberries muft have but two 
rows of plants in each bed, which fliould alfo be two feet 
apart in the rows ; for as thefe grow very ftrong, if they 
have not room to fpread, they will not be very fruitful. 
In chuftng proper plants depends the whole fuccefs; 
for if they are pronlifcuou’fly taken from beds without 
care, great part of the plants will become barren ; thefe 
are generally called blind, which is when there are plenty 
of flowers, but no fruit produced ; if thefe flowers are 
well examined, they will be found to want the female or¬ 
gans of generation, molt of them abounding with ftamina, 
but there are few, if, any, ftyles ; fo that it frequently 
happens among thefe barren plants, that fome of them 
have a part of an imperfedt fruit formed, which will 
fometimes ripen ; this barrennefs is not peculiar to ftraw¬ 
berries, but is general to all thofe plants which have 
creeping roots, orft.dks; and the more they increafe from 
either, the fooner they become barren, and this in fome 
degree runs through the vegetable kingdom ; for tTees 
and fhrubs which are propagated by cuttings, are gene¬ 
rally barren of feeds in two generations, that is, when 
they are propagated by cuttings which were taken from 
plants raifed by cuttings. When the plants have taken 
new root, the next care is, if the winter proves fevere, tq 
