OF CHOICE STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 



13 



RIO— is a good early kind, large for an early berry. Strong, healthy foliage, 

 perfect blosom. Though not as early es Mitchel*s Early, follows closely after it. 

 The fruit is large size, evenly colored and firm enough for an excellent shipper. 

 This is fast becoming a favorite where firm early berries are wanted for ship- 

 ping purposes. The above illustration will j^ive an idea as to its size as it was 

 made from a j>hotograph of a quart of benie-j grown on my xdace. I carried a 

 quart of Rio to the Wicomico News office a local paper published in Salisbury; 

 and I clip the following from their next issue dated May 30. 



•"Mr. W. F. Allen. Jr.. proprietor of the Peniusula Plant Farms, presented us 

 last Saturday with a quart of the large t strawberries we have seen this season. 

 They were the Rio variety. The Rio is «-m early aud very prolific berry, highly 

 colored, and follows Mitchel's Early. Several ot the berries presented us mea- 

 sured bt inches in circumference. " Enough s;id. 



GIANT. — This new variety comes irom Hudson River. N. Y.. with claims 

 of being the largest berry ever yrown. Av^r.-ige specimens being £ to f of an 

 ounce each, while larger ones weigh an ounce or more. One quart contained 

 but 20 berries, and weighed l v ounces. Berries smooth and regular in form 

 and excellent in quality. Here the plants make a strong, stocky growth, and 

 but a moderate number of runners. Has great promise to those who are look- 

 ing for extra large beiTies. The originator says: "The bulk of the crop was 

 large, many measuring 6 to 7 inches in circumference: round, smooth and very 

 solid and heavy and kept good on the plants a week after coloring. Some taken 

 to a photographer and laid azainst a carpenter's rule covered more than 2 inch- 

 es. and made one think at first si:rh.t that they were smooth round tomatoes. The 

 fruit after being in a dark place became covered with a mold, but to feel it 

 w ith the thumb and finger, it was much like squeezing a piece of rubber or a 

 wilted peach, and finally dried up to the size of a small nutmeg." 



