have been successful in some places, but we 

 feel again that other varieties which do so 

 well where Washington fails would prove supe- 

 rior to Washington even where that variety 

 was good. As far as the quality is concerned, 

 both Fairfax and Dorsett, the two new Gov- 

 ernment berries which we are offering this 

 year, surpass Washington in quality, or in 

 fact any varieties on our list. Read about 

 Fairfax and Dorsett on pages 14 and 15. We 

 have this year a good stock of nice plants of 

 Washington but we would certainly suggest 

 that it not be planted in large quantities unless 

 you have tried it and found it good. Our orig- 

 inal stock of plants came direct from the intro- 

 ducer so we have it straight. 



Howard Supreme. This is a patented 

 variety and the plants in our trial plot were 

 obtained from the introducer and patent 

 holder. Our opinion of the berry based on our 

 experience in this test plot is that if there 

 were no other good varieties of strawberries, 

 Howard Supreme would be 0. K., but with 

 other varieties such as Premier, Blakemore, 

 Bellmar, Fairfax, Dorsett and Southland being 

 of about the same season, and so vastly supe- 

 rior to it, we can not in honesty recommend it. 

 The plant growth is satisfactory and the crop 

 of berries produced is adequate but the berries 

 are very dark in color and in addition are dull 



and unattractive under the dry conditions of 

 this plot this year. However, the berries are 

 a rich red in color clear through, which would 

 be desirable for canning or preserving. The 

 berries are somewhat firmer than Premier but 

 not as firm as Blakemore and Fairfax. In addi- 

 tion, it is an imperfect flowering variety. When 

 Mr. Howard, the originator of the variety, first 

 wrote us about introducing it, a main reason 

 that we turned the proposition down was be- 

 cause the variety had imperfect blossoms. We 

 feel that the day of imperfect flowering straw- 

 berries is nearly done. We have only three 

 left now, on our long list of varieties. Perfect 

 flowering varieties are just as good in all re- 

 spects as the best of the imperfect sorts, and 

 you do not have the trouble of planting other 

 varieties through the field with them every few 

 rows. You are no where near as likely to have 

 small, knotty berries when cold rainy weather 

 makes cross-pollenation at blooming time diffi- 

 cult, and you do not have the extra trouble of 

 harvesting and marketing two different varie- 

 ties of berries mixed up through the same field. 

 Any imperfect flowering variety will be at its 

 best in a test plot where there is plenty of 

 pollen from various varieties to properly fer- 

 tilize the blooms. Even so, we know of other 

 test plots where Howard Supreme has been 

 much below the average of the best. 



Let's Be Sure 



In order to check the results from our 1932 tests, we are duplicating most of these varieties, 

 together with a few new ones in another bed to fruit in May and June, 1933. In addition, we 

 are carrying over the beds of the 1932 test plot to see how the different varieties respond on a 

 two-year-old bed. We hope to have an additional interesting report to make next year. Come 

 and see us about fruiting time. Best date, May 25th. 



Berries This Year 



We are often asked, "Will plants set this 

 spring bear fruit this year? I do so want a 

 few berries from my garden this year." 



The Everbearers set in early spring under 

 good conditions, with the blossoms cut off until 

 about the middle of July, will start bearing 

 early in August and continue until freezing 

 weather. Everbearers produce their best crop 

 the first year, beginning only a few weeks 

 after the plants are set. 



Normally, standard varieties should be set 

 out in spring of one season and bear their first 

 crop in berry season the following year, per- 

 haps thirteen months or a little over from time 

 of setting. We have two suggestions to make, 

 however, for those who are very anxious to 

 get a few berries of the high quality spring 

 fruiting sorts the first year: — 



First, Set your plants about twice as close 

 together as normally recommended and do not 

 cut any blossoms from alternate plants. We 

 have seen plants bear as many as eight or ten 

 nice berries coming on just after the plants 

 are set. If the blossoms are cut from one 

 half of the plants, these should produce plenty 

 of runners to make a good fruiting bed and 

 the plants on which the blossoms have been 

 left will produce enough berries to at least 

 show what they taste like and give you a few 

 from your own garden quickly, or 



Second, When growth starts on the newly 

 set plants they will, as regular spring fruiting 



season approaches, all put out quite a number 

 of blossoms. When cultivation and hoeing is 

 started and blossoms are coming out, instead 

 of cutting off all the blossoms from the young 

 plants a nice cluster of blossoms can be left on 

 a number of the strongest and most vigorous 

 growing plants, which can produce a few ber- 

 ries each and still make runners to help out in 

 making the plant bed. 



Caution. Do not expect too much from this 

 practice. You can not possibly expect any con- 

 siderable amount of berries. 



Benefits. The thrill of getting just a taste 

 of berries from your own garden quickly, pos- 

 sibly enough to serve a few times on the table. 

 If interested in getting the best possible ber- 

 ries from your garden or commercial plot, a 

 few berries left on this way will give an excel- 

 lent idea of the appearance, quality and firm- 

 ness of each variety so tested. 



We consider Fairfax and Dorsett, the two 

 new Government berries which we are offering 

 this year, far surpass in quality any berries we 

 have ever grown whether in the home garden 

 or in a commercial plot. We feel that all pur- 

 chasers of these two varieties should leave the 

 blossoms on a few plants in order to learn 

 how good they really are and be prepared to 

 take full advantage of this knowledge in the 

 1934 spring planting season. The number of 

 plants available to each customer this year is 

 limited. 



12 



