Fine Plants from Vigorous Beds Like These 



Why Allen's Plants Will Pay You 



1. Allen's plants are produced in a soil and climate where strawherries thrive. 

 Climatic conditions favor the growth of strong, vigorous crowns and healthy foliage. 

 The loose sandy loam soil is ideal for the development of a fine, well developed 

 root system. 



2. Fifty years of experience guide us in doing all those things which must be 

 done to grow the best plants and to dig and ship them in such a way that they reach 

 you in good growing condition. 



3. Handling no other nursery crop except Asparagus roots we naturally can 

 give more careful attention to all the details than if a complete line of nursery 

 stock, seeds and other stock were handled. 



4. Mr. W. F. Allen, with 50 years experience, and his three sons all are full- 

 time workers in this business. Personal supervision over the different operations 

 should mean better results. 



Fine Planting Stock 



There is so little difference in price between 

 the best planting stock you can get and the 

 cheapest that it is doubtful economy to buy 

 entirely on price. It should be kept in mind 

 that whatever results are obtained and what- 

 ever effort is made to obtain these I'esults must 

 all be done through the plants you use. Below 

 we discuss some of the things which go to make 

 up fine planting stock. 



True to Name. Mixed plants often cause 

 great disappointment and loss. To avoid this 

 they must 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 (as in spring 1934) 

 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 (see illustration), 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 (see illustration), ai'e 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 uncon- 

 sciously decides whether his standards will be 

 high or low. Of course some varieties like 

 Blakemore, Dorsett, Pearl and Senator Dunlap 

 have smaller plants on the average than Big Joe, 

 Chesapeake, Fairfax and Catskill. 



Packing. Plants properly packed have the 

 roots between layers of moist sphagnum moss and 

 the tops to the outside of the crate, with bunches 

 firm enough to prevent shaking around, but not 

 tight enough to cause heating. Plants should be 

 packed to reach you in good growing condition — 

 fresh and moist— but not rotten or dried up. 



