Looking Both Ways 
FOR FIFTY-FOUR years we have been mailing our annual catalog or Berry Book. 
We feel grateful to our many customers and friends for the orders which have 
enabled our business to grow and prosper during that period. The length of time is 
not important except that it reflects the satisfaction that berry growers generally have 
had with our plants, and confidence and assurance with which they can depend on 
our firm whenever they need good strawberry plants or dependable information. 
But we do not content ourselves with 
looking backward. It has been and is still 
our constant aim to keep in touch with 
improved methods of practical growers as 
well as scientific research. Whenever new 
information of practical value to berry 
growers has been brought to light we have 
taken the lead in passing it along through 
our Annual Berry Book. 
It is the same with new varieties. In the 
past many of the best new varieties have 
been chance seedlings. It is our confident 
belief that most of the new varieties of 
the future will come from the breeding work 
at the U. S. Department of Agriculture 
and some of the State Experiment Stations 
where thousands of seedlings of known 
parentage have been developed. After the 
first season's fruiting the vast majority are 
discarded, a few of the best kept for 
further trial. We have grown, and are 
growing, a larger number and a larger 
acreage of those best selections than any 
other plant growers. A few of the best 
are worthy of introduction. It is a part 
of our service to our customers to help find 
out which these are and to be in a position 
to pass them along quickly when released 
for introduction by the authorities. Such 
a variety is the Northstar, described on the 
next page. 
We attribute the superiority of Allen's 
plants to a combination of several things. 
A fine natural soil and climate helps grow 
a good plant. Soil rotation and the finest 
planting stock keeps them healthy and 
free from insects and diseases. Familiarity 
with varieties and careful rogueing when 
necessary spell True-To-Name for Allen's 
plants. Mr. W. F. Allen, his wife, and 
three sons form The W. F. Allen Company. 
We handle no other nursery prod- 
ucts, but concentrate on trying to 
do this one thing a little better 
than the other fellows. 
Won't you let us have your 
order, so that you can get the bene- 
fit of the "little bit extra" that 
goes into Allen's Plants? 
Ofu. Mi. 2. Mtm. Sc. 
V 
Dorsett — our most profitable early 
market variety. 
