Strawberry. The Strawberry (Lat. fragum, whence the name of the genus Fragaria) belongs to the order Rosaceæ. Probably our name is descriptive of the habit of the fruiting plant, when the berries are strewn or strawn upon the ground—humī nascentia fraga—by their weight on the flexible footstalk. It is hard to believe, on the best authority, that the plant waited for its name till straw was laid beneath it. The calyx is ten-cleft, the petals five, and the seeds are imbedded in a fleshy receptacle, which is the delicious and fragrant fruit. The plant is a dwarf perennial, of stocky habit, and with handsome foliage, each leaf consisting of three leaflets, boldly toothed, and deeply ribbed; the stalk is generally long, and more or less hirsute, according to variety. The principal species are F. vesca, including the alpine and wood varieties; F. elatior, the hautbois; F. viridis, a rather scarce European plant; F. virginiana, a scarlet fruit; F. grandiflora, the pine strawberry; and F. chilensis, the Chilian. The hautbois, which is now believed to be a cultivated form of F. vesca, was probably our earliest garden strawberry, and the name is still used by the London street-vendors—‘fine hoboy, ripe hoboy!’—for strawberries of all descriptions. The true hautbois is cultivated still for its rich and musky flavour, but larger and more fruitful kinds have generally superseded it. The magnificent fruit we now possess is chiefly the result of judicious crossings betwixt and among virginiana, grandiflora, and chilensis. The first great improvement appears to have been the introduction of the scarlet kind from Virginia in the beginning of the 17th century; and the old scarlet, though too acid for dessert, is still the very best for preserving. F. grandiflora, the old pine, has larger fruit of higher flavour, and darker and more substantial leaves. It is believed to have come from Carolina, and under that name was regarded for some years as the best and finest of strawberries. Even now there is none to surpass it in flavour, or equal it perhaps in texture; but larger and more productive kinds have onsted it from popularity. The garden strawberries of the present time have been obtained by repeated crossings, and it is impossible now to give their pedigree; but many of them show by hispid stalk and foliage a trace of Chilian lineage, for the Chilian is a very hairy plant and of vigorous growth, but tender. Our British Queen, perhaps the best known of all strawberries, is clearly of Chilian descent, and so are Dr Hogg, Sir Charles Napier, and others of fine character. Many favourite fruits show larger proportions of the grandiflora strain, such as Keens' Seedling, Sir Joseph Paxton, Sir Harry, and other dark varieties. Every year adds to our choice of sorts and helps to extend the season; and very early kinds are much in vogue, such as Laxton's Noble and Captain, which like all precocious fruit are of little other virtue. Besides the above, the following kinds are largely grown around London—Vicomtesse Héricart (or Guribaldi), President, James Veitch, La Grosse Sucrée, Princess of Wales, Lucas, Elton Pine, Eleanor, &c. Also from France, in the ‘berry-season,’ come tons and tons of coarser fruit which even uncrushed would be unknown to any good pomologist.
Planting strawberries for ourselves, we may rely upon a fine sweet crop if we show a little sense and take due care. First of all seek out the proper kinds for soil and climate, dividing (as may be fairly done, at least for practical purposes) all strawberries into three classes—(1) those of Chilian interbreed, which must have heavy soil even if poor, and weather not too barbarous, such as British Queen and congeners; (2) those of more glabrous and substantial leaf, being closely allied to the pine race, which care more for the quality than the substance of the soil, such as Keens' Seedling, &c.; (3) those of a strain so mixed that they must be studied individually, and sometimes flourish most upon a mixen. But however widely strawberries vary, almost all rejoice in having the earth well hardened around them, and the grower will marvel after all his labours to find the most vigorous and buxom of his plants established in the gravel-walk outside his higher culture. The strawberry is propagated in three manners—by seed, by side-shoots from the stool, and by runners. The last is the general course; and the runners or filiform stems (which issue generally at or soon after the fruiting season) should be pegged or fixed till the young plant is rooted. As early in the autumn as the young plants are strong enough, they are set out in the new beds in rows from 2 to 3 feet asunder, according to the vigour of the sort, and at intervals in the row of 15 or 18 inches. If the soil is light it should be rolled or heavily trodden before the planting time, and every young plant should have the earth rammed round it. Whenever a scarcity of runners or the weather has forbidden early planting it is better to wait till the spring than attempt to overtake the lateness lamely; and many kinds do best after wintering with their parents. The duration of a strawberry-bed depends very much upon the variety. Some of the small and early kinds are worn out by the second year of fruiting; while others of more robust habit do well for five or six years, or even more, if frequently cleared and kept in order and good heart. But none of these things has a hard and fast law. The forcing of strawberries is a special subject upon which we cannot enter. Brief as its season is of appearance in the market—from the first week of June to the last of July may be taken as the period of outdoor fruit in the neighbourhood of London—the strawberry has long won the affection of the people (at least for immediate despatch) more entirely than any or all other fruit whatsoever. At the height of the 'berry-time' it is amazing to see the fruit pouring into Covent Garden, from ship and from train, and by the English grower's van from all the nearer counties. The imported fruit is coarse, insipid, and generally in bad condition, but it serves to keep the prices low.
For further instructions, see works cited in our article upon Gardening; also Professor Decaisne's Jardin Fruitier du Musée; the Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening, by George Nicholson; and the Strawberry and how to grow it, by E. W. Harrison. For 'strawberry leaves,' see CORONET.