Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1892-12-08
TO WHOM
ASSESSED.
Continued on page 81
THE STRAWBERRY.
Some interesting Facts About Its Early
History.

Some Interesting Facts About It's early
History.
The wild strawberry is very widely
diffused over the surface Of the earth
being found in the chill regions of the
north. as well as in the sunny chimes OF the
south. It is not tropical plant. however,
and except on mountain sides is not found
south Of latitude SO dogs. north. On the
European continent it grows from Lapland
and the Shetland isles to Italy and Greece.
It is also found throughout western ASIA,
but is unknown in China and Japan. 1t
has grown abundantly on the bleak hills
of Iceland for centuries 1t Is found In
America from Labrador and British
Columbia to the pine woods of the south
ern states and on the highlands Of Mexico
and the Andes. The hardy plant, with its
tiny scarlet berry, may be said to gtrdle
the earth on the line of the polar circle,
and several hundred miles southwark, ex-
cept that it Is not found in the basin OF the
river AMOR, in Siberia.
Though history and story are alike silent
as to the cultivation of the strawberry In
early times, we know that the fruit was
we'll known in England in the Fifteenth
century. Shakespeare has three allusions
to Strawberries. In Henry v" the Bishop
Of Ely, in illustration Of the good qualities
which the young king possessed, In spite
OF his wild habits and Objectionable COM
panions, says:
The strawberry grows underneath the nettle.
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighh0red by fruit of baser quality.
The reference here is obviously to the wild
berry. But in the play Of Richard III"
strawberries are spoken Of as growing In
the Bishop Of Ely's garden at Holborn,
and this seems to show that the berry
was cultivated with considerable care as
early as the latter part Of the Fifteenth
century, though Haydn's Dictionary Of
Dates" asserts that the common straw
berry was brought to England from Elan
ders in 1880. 1t is curious to note that 100
years after the crafty Richard begged some
Of the bishops strawberries we find de-
scription of a garden at Holborn, the prop
erty of the rich barber surgeon, Gerard,
wherein four kinds of Strawberries
great variety for the time-were success
fully cultivated. The third Shakespearean
allusion to this fruit is Interference to the
i'll fated handkerchief of Desdemona, which
was spotted with strawberries.
The Second Largest Diamond in the World.
Inc second ldrSeSI diamond III Cne WOrlQ
is now, according to German journal,
undergoing the cutting process at Ant
werp. It's weight is at present 474 carats,
but it will lose no less than 274 carats be-
fore it is ready for the market. Even then,
however, it will be the second largest dia-
mond in the world. standing between the
280 carats of the Persian diamond "Great
Mogup' and the 1917 7-10 carats of tho Rus
sian "Orlof" brilliant. Roughly speak
ing, the Antwerp stone will be about the
size Of a pigeons egg. In its present state
it measures 2.741 inches by 1.787 inches.
Its polished surface will measure .7S6 inch
each way. Some idea Of the enormous ex-
pense Of the transmutation Of these costly
trifes from the natural to the commercial
state may be gathered from the fact that
the great English crown diamond-the
Koh-i-noor-whioh has only the compare
lively modest weight of 1925 carats, cost
no less than 98, 900 to cut and polish. The
polishing Of q very large diamond isavery
slow process, and it will be long time be.
fore the actual value of the Antwerp stone
can be determined, as its luster and water
cannot be decided until it has left the pol.
inhar,a hauds