WILLIAM F. ALLEN 
1867-1949 
Mr. Allen died on March ill, 1949, at the age 
of 82. In 1885, at the age of 18, he borrowed 
$50.00 to buy his first strawberry plants. From 
that time on, for 64 consecuti, ve years, his major 
business interest was the gro wing and selling of 
good strawberry plants. Long h ours of hard work, 
intelligent planning and honest dealing enabled 
him to build one of the large* v businesses of its 
kind in the world. We, his threo sons, who carry 
on the business are not alone in thinking of him 
as the "grand old man" of the strawberry plant 
industry. 
"Pop," as we called him, wa s not physically 
able during his last two or three years to take an 
active part in the work, but his interest never 
failed and he was always ready with advice and 
counsel based on his long years of experience. 
He had started all of us, his three sons, in the 
business as soon as we finished college. At the 
time of his death we three, Fulton W., W. Lee and 
Albert G. Allen each had over thirty years full 
time work and training in our plant business. Now 
that he is gone we pledge ourselves to maintain 
the high standards he set for himself, his family 
and his business. 
*7/te Plant SlUuUiQM. . . . 1950 
The supply of plants for 1950 is what might be called uneven. 1949 was not a good 
growing year. The trouble was the excessively hot weather. We have had weather just as 
hot before, but never so many days when the temperature was 90° F. and over for so long. 
This was coupled with very dry weather from late July to mid*August. 
Nearly all varieties made a very fine start with lots of new runners, but as experiments 
have proved, strawberry plant growth stops at about 85°-90° F. Very little grovrth, leaves 
or runners, was made in July. Varieties most susceptible to hea. v . and drought even began 
to die out in the thinner sandy soils. However, the heat lessened and rain came by mid- 
August. Some varieties like Midland, Fairpeake, Chesapeake and Mastodon are normally 
not prolific plant makers. These kinds generally made a nice strong root and foliage growth 
on the plants and runners already formed but did not put out the big set of new plants we 
usually have in September. Result: beautiful, large, well-rooted plants, but supply definitely 
under normal. Other varieties like Blakemore, Temple, Sparkle, Fairland, Big Joe, Tennes- 
see Beauty and Robinson, are very free growing. They recovered more quickly and during 
September made lots of new plants. Result: the supply of such varieties will be good. 
Premier is sometimes rated hard to bed — sometimes not. Our stock of this variety is 
unusually vigorous and they grew almost like Blakemore. Result: a good supply of good 
Premier. 
Catskill, usually the first to show heat and drought effects, recovered amazingly and 
made a fine lot of late runner plants. Very careful selection of our stock plants has helped 
here too, as many fields of Catskill are way under par. Our Catskiil supply is about normal 
— good plants! 
Plentiful fall rains and cool snappy weather have enabled plants of all varieties to 
develop good strong crowns and roots. We are confident we can j please you and we will 
certainly appreciate your orders. 
