GOOD PLANTS 

 ARE 3 

 IMPORTANT 



In producing a crop of strawberries we 

 start sometimes a year or more in advance 

 by selecting and preparing the ground. After that all the 

 operations, including careful setting of the plants, manur- 

 ing and fert/lizing, cultivating, spacing and training, 

 mulching and the other things we do, all of them are con- 

 cerned with making the plants live, grow and produce 

 the crop. It is easy to see, then, how important it is to 

 start with good plants. It should be noted also that 

 REALLY GOOD plants must have more than strong, 

 vigorous crowns and long fibrous healthy roots. In ad- 

 dition to these qualities there is an element of service 

 winch can add or detract materially from their value. 

 They should be on hand when needed. They should be 

 properly cleaned and straightened to facilitate handling 

 and they should be packed to reach you in good growing 

 condition. Perhaps above all they should be true to name 

 so that when the crop is produced you will have the kind 

 and quality of benies which you expected. All of these 

 things combine to make 



Fine Planting Stock 



True to Name. Mixed plants often cause great 

 disappointment and loss. To avoid this they 

 niust be kept straight not only in growing but 

 also in digging and shipping. Years of ex- 

 perience are valuable in detecting mixtures 

 when they occur, and in avoiding losses to grow- 

 ers from such mixtures. 



Good Plants. Healthy crowns and buds and 

 well developed root systems such as our plants 

 have would not be enough unless they were 

 grown in soil where most of the root system 

 could be dug. In heavy clay soils great numbers 

 of roots are broken in digging the plants. You 

 will like the root system of Allen's plants. 



Promptness. Plants to be of greatest value 

 should reach you when you want them and not 

 after your best planting season has passed. We 

 offer prompt shipment of freshly dug plants. 

 Bad weather may occasionally hold up ship- 

 ments as much as a week, but normally we can 

 make shipment within a day or two* of time 

 specified. 



Protection. Plants should be kept fresh and 

 moist while digging and handling and not al- 

 lowed to become dry and withered by exposure 

 to sun and wind. 



Cleaning dead and decaying leaves and run- 

 ners helps enable the plants to reach you in 

 good condition. Furthermore, well cleaned 



plants, bunched evenly, with roots straightened. 

 make setting easier, quicker and better. 



Grading. When you buy plants you have a 

 right to expect full count of good plants. Not 

 all the plants in any field, no matter how vig- 

 orous and healthy, are good plants. Undersized, 

 poorly rooted, and weak plants must be graded 

 out rigidly. It is here that many plant growers 

 fall down badly. It is in grading and cleaning the 

 plants that a plant grower usually consciously 

 or unconsciously decides whether his standards 

 will be high or low. Of course some varieties 

 like Blakemore. Dorsett, Pearl and Senator Dun- 

 lap have smaller plants on the average than Bis 

 Joe, Chesapeake, Fairfax and Catskill. 



Packing. Plants properly packed have the 

 roots between layers of moist sphagnum mos^ 

 and the tops to the outside of the crate, witl 

 bunches firm enough to prevent shaking around 

 but not tight enough to cause heating. Plant- 

 should be packed to reach you in good growing 

 condition — fresh and moist — but not rotten 01 

 dried up. 



Price. There is so little difference in prict 

 between the best stock you can buy and tht 

 cheapest that it is doubtful economy to bnj 

 entirely on price. Those who buy on price onl^ 

 are lawful prey for those who sell on price only 

 Good plants at reasonable prices are best foi 

 everybody. 



