berry as a USDA researcher started in 

 1916 with the initiation of a four-year 

 study of the cultural practices and 

 varieties of all berries in each producing 

 region of the U.S. It was at this time 

 that he first met Mr. W. F. Allen, 

 founder of the W. F. Allen Company. 

 Since that time three generations of 

 Aliens have enjoyed working with Dr. 

 Darrow and have greatly appreciated 

 his friendship, advice and research. 



The first important variety of the 

 USDA breeding program was Blake- 

 more. Dr. Darrow made the cross at 

 Glenn Dale, Maryland and sent the 

 selection to Willard, North Carolina in 

 1927 for evaluation. The selection 

 proved to be outstanding and a de- 

 cision was made to release it in 1930. 

 Two very important and far reaching 

 programs were initiated as a result of 

 this first cooperative work; one a straw- 

 berry breeding program between the 

 USDA and a state agency that was es- 

 tablished at Willard with the North 

 Carolina Department of Agriculture in 

 1928; the other in order to release the 

 new variety. Dr. Darrow asked the 

 American Nurserymen's Association 

 to suggest three strawberry nurseries in 

 the eastern United States who might be 

 willing to help introduce the new vari- 

 ety Blakemore. W. F. Allen Company 

 was happy to be one of those chosen. 

 The arrangement has worked so well 

 that the three nurseries have continued 

 to cooperate with the USDA to test and 

 increase all advance USDA strawberry 

 selections and to propagate for release 

 all USDA strawberry varieties devel- 

 oped for the Eastern and Central 

 United States. 



A cooperative program for the Paci- 

 fic Northwest was initiated in 1928 

 with the Oregon Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. In order to increase the 

 effectiveness of the USDA program a 

 cooperative program with the Univer- 

 sity of Maryland Agricultural Experi- 



ment Station was established in 1939. 

 The USDA-Md. program has devel- 

 oped outstanding varieties such as Sure- 

 crop, Guardian, Midway; Sunrise, Red- 

 chief and now Darrow. A cooperative 

 program was established with the Plant 

 Industry Division of Southern Illinois 

 University at Carbondale, Illinois in 

 1959 to develop varieties better 

 adapted to conditions in the Central 

 section of the U.S. The new variety 

 Delite was developed from this pro- 

 gram. The establishment of the Illinois 

 station completed the area concept for 

 the major strawberry-producing regions 

 with Oregon serving the Northwest, 

 Illinois the Central, North Carolina the 

 South and Southeast and Maryland the 

 North and Northeast. 



The early objectives of the USDA 

 program were to develop varieties with 

 large fruit, good flavor, firm flesh, and 

 tough skin, with plant vigor that would 

 withstand a wide range of climatic con- 

 ditions. The finding of red stele root rot 

 in Illinois, California and Maryland in 

 1930 and later in other producing areas 

 resulted in the addition of red stele re- 

 sistance as a requirement for all breed- 

 ing work after 1940. The need to de- 

 velop varieties that were resistant to 

 verticillium wilt, leaf spot, leaf scorch 

 and powdery mildew was recognized 

 and these requirements were added to 

 the objectives of the breeding program. 

 The identification of virus diseases as 

 being responsible for several serious 

 problems caused USDA and cooperat- 

 ing scientists to start an extensive pro- 

 gram in 1946 to find virus-free plants of 

 existing varieties. This has been a long 

 and costly program for the researchers 

 and nurseries, but the tremendous loss 

 in fruit production and plant vigor 

 make this mandatory for the grower, 

 researcher and nurserymen. 



Dr. Darrow and his very capable 

 associate Dr. D. H. Scott in the late 

 1940's and 1950's initiated several pro- 

 grams with State agricultural experi- 



9 



