Strawberry

a trailing herb of the rose family. It is stemless. White flowers grow on scapes a few inches high, and are succeeded a few weeks later by red fruit. Properly speaking, the strawberry is not a berry. In a berry, as, for instance, a currant or gooseberry, the seeds are surrounded by pulp inclosed in a skin. The seeds of the strawberry, on the contrary, are naked and dry on the outside of a fleshy receptacle. The acid of the strawberry is the same chemically as the acid of an apple. Strawberry plants may be raised from the seed, but the strawberry is propagated usually by means of jointed runners. A new plant is formed at each joint and takes root for itself.

There are about six species of wild strawberries. The wood strawberry has small, perfect fruit with a narrow neck. The seeds project slightly. This strawberry, known to the botanist as Fragaria vesca, is widely distributed through North America and Europe. The wild wood strawberry has the finest flavor of all strawberries. It is of this species that Dr. Boteler, as quoted by Izaak Walton, said, "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubt-less God never did." The Virginian strawberry is the strawberry of old fields throughout eastern North America. It is larger than the wood berry. The seeds are sunk in small pits. Other species are found in the West.

The garden berries of America and Europe are derived from a wild species native to the Pacific coast of America from Alaska to Chile. This Chilian species was introduced into Europe about 200 years ago. The American varieties came by way of England. In 1835 the Hovey Seedling, and a few years later the Early Scarlet, the first famous berries of America, were propagated. The successful raising of berries in America began with these varieties. A later favorite was the Wilson.

Strawberry vines, so-called from the runners, adapt themselves to a great variety of soil. They require moisture and fairly cool weather. The strawberry may be raised successfully in every state and province in North America. The flowers of some varieties have both stamens and pistils. Other excellent varieties have pistillate flowers only. Such varieties develop fruit only when planted with varieties that have stamens. Unless a large number of the little seeds be fertilized by pollen the berry produced is a mere "nubbin." A frost has the same effect. Gardeners find that by cutting off the runners as fast as they appear the yield of berries may be increased. Southern gardeners mulch their strawberries with pine needles. In the grain-raising states straw is used for the purpose. Mulch serves to keep the ground moist and to keep the berries clean. A covering of several inches of straw in the winter prevents killing by frost.

The raising of strawberries has grown into immense proportions. A recent authority states that the annual crop for the United States is not far from 257,000,000 quarts. This estimate should be increased from year to year. In the United States the strawberry season begins in February. The Florida and Texas strawberries are on the market in this month. A month later strawberries are ripe throughout a strip 150 miles farther north. The basis of supply sweeps north over Vermont and Minnesota late in June. Manitoba berries ripen as late as July. See Rose; Raspberry, etc.