Success with Small Fruits

that he had no right to chronicle the vicissitudes of Manhattan Island until he had first accounted for the universe of which it is a part. Equally with the i

with genius, and whose extensive learning enabled him to accou

ruit. I suppose Mr. Darwin would say, "it was evolved." But some specimens between our lips suggest that a Geneva watch could put itself together quite as readily. At the same time, it must be said that our "rude forefathers" did not eat Monarch or Charles Downing strawberries. In few fruits, probably, have t

"It is an old English practice" (let us hope a modern one also) "to lay straw between the rows to preserve the fruit from rotting on the wet ground, from which the name has been supposed to be derived; although more probably it is from the wandering habit of the plant, straw being a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon strae, from which we have the E

at its botanical name should be fragaria, from the Latin fra

the stem" that sustains the fruit or seeds; and so it becomes a beautiful illustration of a kindly, genuine courtesy, which renders an ordinary service with so much grace and graciousness that we dwell on the manner with far more pleasure than on the service itself. The innumerable varieties of strawberries that are now in existence appear, either in their character or origin, to belong to five great and quite distinct species. The first, and for a long time the only one of which we have any record, is the Fragaria vesca, or the "Alpine" strawberry. It is one of the most widely spread fruits of the world, for it grows, and for

EEDS AND PULP OF

the strawberry of the ancients. It is to i

ather flowers a

n the grass a

its cultivation. It may appear a little strange that the luxurious Romans, who fed on nightingales' tongues, peacocks' brains, and scoured earth and air for delicacies, should have given but little attention to this fruit. Possibly they early learned the fact that this spec

hundred years ago; and to-day the same cry, in some language or other, echoes around the

t its chief poetical associations are among the darkest and saddest that can be imagined. Shakespeare's mention of the strawb

in the grass

out IX of the clocke, saluting them curtesly, and excusing himself that he had been from them so long, saieing merily that he had been a slepe that day. And after a little talking with them he said unto the bishop of Elye, my lord, You have very good strawberr

lord protecto

e strawb

hop of Ely,

with an air of general co

cheerfully and sm

nceit or other

enters, black as night, hisses his monstrous charge, and bef

by the words of the fiendish Iago,-type for all

me but

ometimes seen

awberries, in yo

h a one; 'twas

world will never forgive, in sp

rying was one of the earliest pastimes of the Englis

they all thre

wood to gathe

to them a dang

rhyme, which, nevertheless, suggests th

the wilder

awberries gr

him, as I t

errings as gre

ntury, in his work, "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry united to as many of Good Housewifery," turns the strawberry que

he garden, an

roots, of the

broad, among th

picked prove e

ollar," the serene Izaak writes, "we may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, 'Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did;' and so if I might

berry: "It may be eaten or chewed in the mouth without any manner of offense; it is no great bearer, but those it doth beare are set at the t

pires to the strawberry leaves" is a well-known phrase abroad, and the idea occurs several times in the novels of Disraeli, the present Bri

s should be allied to some dark memories, for it was the on

peculiarly appropriate to the species under consideration

y grows undern

berries thrive

y fruit of b

strawberries tend to reproduce themselves with such unvar

ction of other species more capable of variation and improvement. Still, attempts were made from time to time. As the Alpine differed somewhat f

than the leaves, but the latter are larger than the foliage of the Alpine, and are covered with short hairs, both on the upper and under surface, which give them a rough appearance. As far as I can learn, this species still further resembles the Alpines in possessing little capability of improvement and variation. Even at this late day the various n

to have produced a new variety from the seed of the Wood strawberry," which was called the "Cappron," and afterward the "Fressant." It was named as a distinct variety one hund

III., in 1624. During the first century of its career in England, it was not appreciated, but as its wonderful capacity for variation and improvement-in which it formed so marked a contrast to the Wood strawberry-was discovered, it began to receive the attention it deserved. English gardeners learned the fact, of which we are making

have seen, the Fragaria vesca, or the Alpine species of Europe, is substantially the same to-day as it was a thousand years ago. But the capacity of the Virginian strawberry for change and improvement is shown by those great landmarks in the American culture of this fruit,-the production of Ho

two branches of the family,-the Eastern and the Western. The differences are so marked that some writers have asserted that there are two species; but we have the

Northern India, and differs so much from the other species that it was formerly named as a distinct genus. It has yellow flowers, and is a showy house-plant, especial

on the under side." The flowers are larger than in the other species; the fruit, also, in its native condition, averages much larger, stands erect instead of hanging, ripens late, is rose-colored, firm and sweet in flesh, and does not require as much heat to develop its saccharine constituents; but it lacks the peculiar sprightliness and aroma of the Virginia strawberry. It has become, however, the favorite stock of the European gardener

which M. Frezier saved from his allowance, much limited owing to a shortness of supply. He gave two of the plants to M. de Jessieu, "who cultivated th

Duchesne, in 1766, says that "Miller considered its cultivation abandoned in England on account of its sterility. The importations from other portions of South America appeared to ha

fuse into it the sturdier life of the Virginian strawberry, it still remembers its birthplace, and falters and often dies in the severe cold of our winters, or, what is still worse, the heat and drought of our summers. As a species, it requires the high and careful culture that they are able and willing to give it in Europe. The majority of impo

e, and in the form of the improved and cultivated varieties that have won a name abroad. We are crossing the importations with our own native stock. President Wilder's superb seedling, which has received his name, is an example of this blending proces

berries, the latest products of horticultural skill, speedily indicate in the rough-and-tumble of ordinary culture whether they have derived their life from the hardy F. Virginiana or the tender and fastidious F. Chilensis. The Monarch of the West and the Jucunda are the patricians of the garden, and on the