18 ALLEN'S BOOK OF BERRIES— 1926 



Premier (Howard 17) 



For several years we have been recommending Premier as the best earlv 

 berry in existence. After another year's experience, we want only to emphasize 

 what we have said in previous years. In addition to our own experience, we have 

 enthusiastic reports from growers all over the Country about this variety. We are 

 printing a few of them on page 16. We believe Premier comes nearer to being a 

 perfect strawberry than any variety we have ever seen. It has no weak points. 

 From our own experience and from the reports of many of our customers, we 

 recommend Premier as being the best early berry to plant on any type of soil and 

 in any section of the Country except Florida. We have grown Premier on rich 

 land and on poor, on high land and on heavy, in wet seasons and in dry, in sea' ons 

 of many late frosts and in seasons where there were no late frosts and at all times 

 Premier has outclassed other early berries. Each succeeding year demonstrates 

 more fully that all we have said about Premier is true. For fear we will overlook 

 some of the good points of this fine variety, we are going to list them. 



1. You don't have to consider your soil. When grown on any soil and in any 

 climate, Premier outclasses all other early berries. 



2. The plants are enormously productive, ripening early and bearing through 

 a long season. No variety yields more quarts per acre. This is especially important 

 where the land is limited and a maximum quantity of fancy berries desired. 



3. The berries are beautiful in appearance, having a uniform shape and a 

 glossy, rich red color extending clear through the berry. 



4. The berries have a bright green cap which stays green to the end of the 

 season even in dry weather. This is not oversize but just right to add the proper 

 touch of beauty to the fruit. This results in greater beauty and a larger selling price. 



5. The berries are delicious in quality, equalled only by the very best ones 

 like McAlpin, Big Late, W T m. Belt and Chesapeake. 



6. Premier berries are firm enough to stand shipment to distant markets in 

 good condition. We have heard buyers at local shipping stations condemn Premier 

 as being a poor shipper, saying it did not ship like Klondyke. and in a few minutes 

 later when a load of nice Klondyke and another of nice Premier drove through the 

 auction market, these same buyers would pay from 25c to $1.00 per crate more for 

 the Premier. If kept picked up closely, Premier will come through a wet season 

 with flying colors. 



7. Premier is a fancy early berry which makes it easier for commercial grow- 

 ers to get pickers at the first of the season and keep them for late varieties, than if 

 there were less desirable early berries, or none at all. 



8. Premier is the nearest frost proof of any variety we have ever seen. For 

 two successive years nearly all other varieties except Chesapeake were very 

 severely damaged while Premier came through with a full crop. We believe 

 Northern growers who have hesitated to plant early berries on account of late 

 frosts can plant Premier and get by with a fine crop of fancy early fruit. 



9. The berries are of large size and hold their size well throughout their long 

 bearing season. As every strawberry grower knows, size is an important factor in 

 getting a good price. 



10. No variety has healthier foliage, and healthy foliage is essential in matur- 

 ing a nice crop of fruit. The last two berry seasons here have given us extremes in 

 weather. One was very dry and one very wet. In the dry year we had no rain 

 during the entire picking season. That year most all of the varieties kept good 

 foliage but were severely injured by the drought. And in a field that had nearly all 

 the standard varieties and many of the newer ones like Eaton, Marvel, Delicious, 

 Big Late, Big Winder and others, Premier was not only the best early berry in the 

 field, but discarding its early crop, it was better than any mid-season berry in the 

 field, and discarding that it was almost as good as any late berry in the field except 

 Chesapeake. The other year, which was one of the wettest strawberry seasons we 

 have ever seen, a very large part of all the varieties rusted severely, and the size 

 and quality of the crop produced was almost in direct proportion to the way the 



