A Fine Field of Big Joe Plants for Spring 1933 Orders 



The Plants That Pay 



The three most important things when buying strawberry plants are these: 



First, and probably most important, be sure they are true to name. A field with irregular 

 broken rows such as you would grow even with poor plants might well be more valuable than a 

 vigorous, well set, heavily bedded row of some worthless variety, or a variety not suited to your 

 soil, climate, and marketing conditions. 



Second, be sure the plants you buy are vigorous, healthy and well rooted. The overhead cost 

 on the land and taxes, the fertilizer, the labor of setting and cultivating, and all other costs up 

 to harvesting, are just as great in a broken patch as in a patch where good plants have made 

 possible a full stand and healthy, vigorous growth. 



Third, be sure of proper handling. Improper handling can mix up plants that have been 

 kept true to name and can make worthless, or decrease in value, vigorous, healthy plants, by 

 exposure to sun and wind and by improper packing which allows them to become dry, brown 

 and devitalized. 



The picture above shows a field of vigorous, well grown strawberry plants. On the opposite 

 page you will see an illustration of nice plants with dead and decaying foliage cleaned off, 

 roots and tops straightened, all ready to be counted and bunched. These plants are the equal 

 of any plants you will find anywhere, and superior to plants less vigorous and well rooted. 

 Allen's plants are grown in a sandy loam soil, in which such roots as you see pictured are 

 developed and from which the plants can be removed without breaking off great numbers of the 

 roots. Such plants will bring you success in growing strawberries. Even with such plants, 

 however, as pointed out above, greater value can be added or maintained by the way they are 

 handled. 



rooted. There should be full count of good 

 plants. Of course varieties like Blakemore, 

 Missionary, Pearl and Senator Dunlap have 

 small plants and these on the average will not 

 be as large as Big Joe, Chesapeake and Pre- 

 mier plants. 



5. Proper Packing — with roots in layers of 

 moist spagnum moss and the tops to the out- 

 side 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 nor dried up. 



6. Prompt Service. Plants to be of great- 

 est value should reach you when you want 

 them and not after your best planting season 

 has passed. Prompt shipment from freshly 

 dug plants. 



A falling down in any one of these things would detract from the value of the 

 plants, and an assurance that they are done properly maintains to the utmost 

 their capacity for getting results. 



1. True to Name. Plants that are true to 

 name should be kept that way and not mixed 

 by careless handling. 



2. Fresh and Moist. Plants should be kept 

 fresh and moist while digging and handling, 

 and not allow sun and wind to make them dry 

 and withered. 



3. Well Cleaned. They should be well 

 cleaned and bunched evenly. Dead and decay- 

 ing leaves tend to prevent plants from reach- 

 ing you in good condition. And well cleaned 

 plants, bunched evenly, with roots straight- 

 ened, make setting easier, quicker and better. 



4. Full Count of Good Plants. Even with 

 beds like those pictured above not every plant 

 is good, and your plant grower must be will- 

 ing to sort out any that are weak and poorly 



