A Fancy Early 

 Shipping Berry 



|m3f This variety was introduced last year by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



I Ilia I j£ j s a scientific cross of Premier (Howard 17) x Missionary. This past season we 

 fruited several acres of Bellmar and it showed up especially well, yielding in one acre block which 

 we had on low springy land, something over 5,000 quarts per acre. The plant beds in this block 

 had been left entirely too thick and we feel that would have done even better had the plants 

 been kept thinned out properly. With the exception of Premier, we consider Blakemore and 

 Bellmar both to be decided improvements on the general list of early market varieties and espe- 

 cially the southern varieties, Klondyke and Missionary. 



Plant Growth. Of all the early varieties, 

 Bellmar, Blakemore and Premier, have and 

 maintain the healthiest foliage throughout the 

 fruiting season, and these three in our judg- 

 ment, when properly cared for, stand head and 

 shoulders above all the other early varieties of 

 strawberries in the production of large quanti- 

 ties of fancy berries. This statement, in our 

 experience, has no exceptions, except the new 

 Government berries, Fairfax, Dorsett and 

 Southland. For the special merits of these see 

 pages 14, 15 and 21. Bellmar leaves very little 

 to be desired in the way of vigorous, healthy 

 plant growth. 



Productiveness. With us last year Bellmar 

 produced very heavy crop, ranking about as 

 productive as Blakemore, perhaps not as pro- 

 ductive as Premier. 



Quality. The berries rank high in dessert 

 quality, being less acid than either Missionary 

 or Blakemore; perhaps about the same as 

 Premier. 



Firmness. The berries are very firm in 

 texture. One prominent New Jersey berry 

 grower carried some berries from North Caro- 

 lina to his home in New Jersey and kept them 

 for several days. He found that the Bellmar 

 stood the ride and held up fully as well as the 

 Blakemore. The berries will ship well, but the 

 dark color gives them an appearance of being 

 riper than they are. 



Color and Appearance. The berries are beau- 

 tiful in appearance, rather bright red in color 

 when picked at the proper stage but they be- 

 come dark red for several days before they 

 decay. The handsome green cap gives the 

 berries a striking appearance. This cap or 

 hull, parts very readily from the berry, making 

 them easy to prepare for eating or cooking. 



Size. Bellmar berries average large in size, 

 being fully as large as Blakemore and prob- 

 ably as large as Premier if the whole crop is 

 counted. 



Altogether we consider Bellmar a valuable addition to the list of varieties. We feel that its 

 chief value will be in sections where berries must be shipped considerable distances, but it is 

 well worth trying in any strawberry growing section. A variety with the vigor of Bellmar 

 may produce surprisingly good results under difficult conditions. Price list, page 31. 



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