There is scarcely any record of progress until after the introduction
of the two great American species. It is true that in 1660 a fruit
grower at Montreuil, France, is "said 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
hundred years later, but it may be doubted whether it differed greatly
from its parent. Be this as it may, it is said to be the first
improved variety of which there is any record.

Early in the 17th century, intercourse with this continent led to the
introduction of the most valuable species in existence, the
"Virginian" strawberry (Fragaria Virginiana), which grows wild from
the Arctic regions to Florida, and westward to the Rocky Mountains. It
is first named in the catalogue of Jean Robin, botanist to Louis
XIII., 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
so much to-day, that by simply sowing its seeds, new and possibly
better varieties could be produced. From that time and forward, the
tendency has increased to originate, name and send out innumerable
seedlings, the majority of which soon pass into oblivion, while a few
survive and become popular, usually in proportion to their merit.

The Fragaria Virginiana, therefore, the common wild strawberry that is
found in all parts of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, is
the parent of nine-tenths of the varieties grown in our gardens; and
its improved descendants furnish nearly all of the strawberries of our