Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-04-29
Origin of the Strawberry.


6NHE strawberry has a long history
and has become an important
article of food and one of the i'm
portant market cropspf the rich, level
sandy-loam lands IT, lie south and
east of Washington &Ang the Potomac
and Patuxent rivers AZ the Chesapeake
bay. The reason for the name of this
particular berry is matter of dispute.
There are authorities that contend that
strawberry is derived from STRAY
berry" and that the name was given
the berry because of it's habit of
straying or extending its vines over
the ground.
There was a writer of verse in Eng
land named John Lidgate, who died
about 1880, and among his verses was
one in which he made the following
reference to the strawberry" or. as he
spelled the "stra-berrNy:
Then unto London 1 d56k me bye.
OF all the land IL be1feth the pryse;
Code pescode. begaus to. cry.
straberry rype. and efsrrys in the ryse.
1t is said that the, strawberry has
been under cultivation for more than
three centuries, and it is natural that
a great many varieties have been de-
veloped. but all these varieties trace
their descent from the fragrant and
luscious wild berries that grow nearly
the whole world over. One enthusiastic
writer says: Whatever the botanic
name of the different varieties of the
wild strawberry plants matters little.
We know that it's luscious fruit is a
delight to the old and young, the rich
and the poor 1t grows almost in all
ATTITUDES, in southern zones as well as
in tie north: in the valley well as
high among the rocks of the Alps or
the Himalayas: it is claimed that no
fruit grown in northern climates is
comparable with the strawberry in
flavor. and if the soil and situation be
adapted to it the colder the climate
and the more bleak and elevated the
situation the more delicious is the
berry"
There is in the strawberry an acid
which many persons declare does not
agree with them. and the evidence
seems to indicate that this is true. yet
the great mass. of human kind will eat
strawberries with grateful relish, and
it is held that these berries have cured
men of govt, fevers and other ills.
1t has been written that Linnaeus was
cured of govt by eating strawberries,
and Boerhaave. the Dutch botanist. re-
garded the strawberry a remedy.
Botanists have given to the straw
berry genus the name of Fragaria and
the natural order of plants to which
it belongs is Rosaceae, or the great
rose order of the plant world. The
principal species of the wild strawberry
are six in number. The first is the
wood strawberry, found in the woods
and on the hillsides throughout Europe
and also in America and in Asia. This
species. according to the students Of
the strawberry. was the first of the
wild species to be brought under cul-
tivation and this berry the parent
stock of many of the species that are
cultivated under the names of the red,
white, the American and the Dan
ish Alpine strawberry. The wild Alp
inc strawberry is another of the fam
lily. and this was the parent stock of
those species not often seen in this
country called the green strawber-
ries. Among the other wild species
strawberry and the Virginia or Caro-
lima strawberry, or "Fargaria Virgin
lana" There is another wild species
found in South America called the Chill
can strawberry. Nearly all the large
fruited strawberries which are so pop
ular in the United States have been de-
rived from the Virginia or the Carolina
wild berry.
thirteenth census it is said that straw
berries are by far the most important
of the small fruits raised in Maryland
with blackberries and dewberries
ranking next. The total acreage in
Maryland of small fruits in 1909 was 49,
SOS and in 1899. 1882. a decrease Of
SO per cent. The production in 1909
was 26.277. 900 quarts. as compared with
27.95S, 900 quarts in 1899. and the value
was s1,22S,Oo0 in 1909 as compared with
s1,1Sl. 900 in 1899. OF the 1909 acreage
in small fruits the strawberry acreage
was 1892 and the product 23.611 900
quarts. In Virginia, according to the
census figures for 1909, the acreage
given over to STRAWBERRIES was 6,sos
and the produce of those acres was
1O761 600 quarts of berries.
The principal strawberry counties of
Virginia are the eastern shore counties
of Accomac and Northampton and the
south Chesapeake counties of Norfolk
and Princess Anne. The great straw
berry counties OF Maryland are Anne
Arundel. Somerset, .Wicomico and Wor-
cester, all of them eastern shore coun-
ties with the exception Of Anne Arun-
del, which adjoins Prince Georges
county on the east and northeast. being
separated from that county by the Pa
tuxent river.