Typical berries of 

 frost proof Premier 



PREMIER 



JM Q-AaU 9acw-^ B^aaa^ 



A real champion! Premier has been repeating its victory over spring 

 frosts every year since 1915 when it was £arst introduced. As a sure cropper 

 Premier heis no equed ! 



No variety ever spread so quickly over the middle and northern states 

 where Premier is adapted. For many years Premier hcis been the most 

 widely grown strawberry in its area which extends from Canada to Virginia, 

 west beyond the Mississippi and south to the higher altitudes of North 

 Carolina and Tennessee. Here axe the reasons for Premier's quick and 

 continued leadership : 



1. Sure cropper — frost proof. 



2. A good grower — as healthy foliage as any variety in existence- 



3. Extremely productive^no variety will make more quarts per acre 

 than Premier. 



4. Vigor sufficient to make a satisfactory fruiting row. 



5. Good berries— moderately firm, good quality, attractive appear- 

 ance, satisfactory for freezing. 



We believe more than half the records for high yields and high profits in the northern states in recent years have been made with 

 Premier. You can't go wrong with Premier. 



Other varieties which have begun to take a larger percentage of the berry acreage in the northern states include Catskill, Sparkle, 

 Robinson and Empire. Partly this is due to some superior qualities of these berries, partly to stretch out the picking season with later 

 varieties and perhaps partly because many Premier stocks have become weakened by a virus disease which results in less vigorous 

 growth than formerly, unsatisfactory fruiting bed and reduced yields. This has been especially true in very dry years when Premier 

 has always had some difficulty in siring up the last of its tremendous set of fruit. 



The reduction in vigor of Premier, Catskill and other varieties is thought to be due to a virus disease. Several years ago workers 



in the U.S.D.A. started collecting plants of various varieties from especially vigorous rows or isolated localities in the attempt to find 



virus free strains. This was accomplished with several varieties by 1952 or earlier, so that we now can offer "virus-free" strains of 



Premier, Catskill, Sparkle, Blakemore, Massey, Albritton, Tennessee Beauty, Tennessee Shipper, Klonmore and Klondyke. (See page 30.) 



These plants have all shown greatly increased vigor and in this dry year a marked ability to resist drought as compared with most 



regular stocks. With most of the varieties mentioned above the effect has been increased vigor and upstanding growth 



without changing the general appearance of the plant in other ways. With Premier, however, freedom 



^ y^ii^y^jttl^'^ , , from virus has in addition changed somewhat the general appearance of the plant growth so 



gj^a^?*^ ■ V' if'^A^ much that if grown side by side with regular Premier it would seem that they were two 



'~ ^ - -^*' "**^?^>* different varieties. Differences in fruit of Premier between the virus free and the 



" ■^' STfvm*- regular are much less apparent. Our own regular stock has retained far more 



of the original Premier vigor than most stocks (see picture below) and the 



plants look like the Premier we have always known. We can supply 



either 'Virus-free" or the regular. If you have a choice please 



indicate same on order sheet. Regular or virus-free, we 



have them both, and both are fine. Order Premier today. 



Price list page 31. 



MitcheU Co., N. C, Nov. 24, 1952. "From the 500 

 Premier plants you sent me in 1950 I picked 880 quarts of 

 berries in 1951. I reworked the old beds and picked 1150 

 quarts of Premier berries from the same patch in 1952. I 

 have raised berries for the last six years and Premier so far 

 has outyielded anything I have tried." 



Spencer B. Dellinger 



Beautiful plants of regular Premier 



