4 
BRIDGMAN NURSERY COMPANY, BRIDGMAN, MICHIGAN 
and set strawberries on it with good success. 
it you will remember about flrming the plant 
well when it is set. There are a great many 
open places in the soil. If you set on an old 
meadow it will mean about two extra hoelngs 
and cultivatlngs. that is all. We would not 
choose an old grass plot for setting if we had 
something mellower. One thing about an old 
meadow is, when you have the grass sub- 
dued, the other weeds are not so plentiful 
later on. 
Mulching. 
If you live in country where your soil heaves 
out the wheat, clover and so on, in the winter 
time, mulch your plants with wheat straw, 
wild grass, or pine needles. Anything that will 
prevent repeated freezing and thawing during 
the winter. The best time to apply the mulch 
is when the ground has frozen so you can go 
on with your team. 
When the leaves commence to perk up in 
the spring rake off the rows toward the center. 
If you can't get it all in there remove from 
field. 
When to Pick Strawberries and How Often. 
At first you will have to look out that you 
don't get them a little too green. Later, when 
the crop is coming on fast, your trouble will 
be getting them too ripe. You should pick 
Everbearing 
Superb Strawberry. 
Has come to stay, and its originator. Samuel 
Cooper, should receive the credit. It may be 
some time before the world recognizes the im- 
portance of this most wonderful berry as a 
fall bearer. The first year, Progressive will 
produce more berries, but just wait as you 
would for the ordinary berries, such as Dun- 
lap, etc., which you had set the year previous, 
and see what Superb will do. It has been 
gathering strength and vigor, the bush has 
grown until the small plant you set the year 
previous is not recognizable. It has evolved a 
mass of foliage and fruit stems that will sur- 
prise the most skeptical. It ripens its first 
berry as soon as the first June varieties are ripe, 
and continues to bloom and bear profusely the 
whole entire time from spring until fall. Now, 
remember, when I say profusely, I mean a 
great big lot of them — a great big lot of great 
big, round, firm, fancy berries. I will venture 
to say that single plants bore six quarts or 
more this season, and they still have berries 
on them the middle of November. I never 
saw a small Superb berry. 
Size of Superb. 
At one time about six weeks after all other 
Strawberries were done. I went out to pick a 
few quarts for dinner, and the plants were so 
full of ripe and green berries and blossoms, I 
counted the ripe berries I picked from one 
plant and T had 17: it made a great large 
handful; you would have to spread your fin- 
gers to hold them in your hand. When I 
took this two quarts up to the house a spring 
balance stared me in the face and seemed to 
say "see how many it takes to weigh a pound." 
I counted and placed them on the scale and 26 
out of this two quarts made a plump pound; 
three of the larger ones weighed two ounces. 
Now this was from no choice of hills, for they 
all seemed alike. A hill of berries would have 
the appearance of a great ripe watermelon cut 
open. These were plants of the previous "year's 
.setting. We took all of the young plants 
away for propagating purposes and left, only 
the old plant. We hoed these plants several 
times during the season to l<eep the soil loose 
and kill the weeds. Now. the Superb plants 
we sell you this spring are of this same strain, 
and will do the same or perhaps better for you. 
o\ er a Strawberry patch every other day. Be 
careful as you can and gather all ripe ones. 
Snapping or Stemming. 
In this section, where Chicago is our market, 
which is only 77 miles, we snap them, but 
where the shipments go to distant markets, 
it is well to leave a part of the stem on, as 
they will ship better. 
How to Pack. 
Do not try to work in all of the small and 
poor berries by putting them on the bottom 
of the boxes, for that is where the buyer 
looks. If you are going to send your culls to 
market you will be out boxes, express, etc. 
Make your package average. I would not take 
pains to put all the extra large and fancy ones 
in the bottom of the boxes, don't be too fussy 
with the packing, just make it look natural. 
Too much handling spoils the looks of a berry. 
Send us pictures of your berry fields. We 
expect to add some pictures in our next issue 
of catalogues, and if there are any that you 
can take with a camera or kodak that looks 
good send it along. 
Our plants are inspected before you get 
them by the State Horticultural Society, and a 
certificate of inspection goes with each pack- 
age. 
Strawberries 
If I were to talk to you for hours I could not 
say too much for Superb. One man in Iowa 
at this writing has already ordered fifty thou- 
sand (this is no joke) and says they are part 
of what goes on a ten acre field. He wanted 
100.000. If you doubt this, send us postage 
and promise not to divulge his name, and we 
will send you his postotfice address as well. We 
sold another party in Ohio 21,000 earlier in 
the season. We are refusing wholesale orders 
on them right along, as we are holding them 
for our retail trade. Order Superb early, as we 
were sold out last year many times, arid if we 
had had plants enough we felt as though 
we could now take the whole English and 
French loan. This is not catalog talk, but 
the plain, unvarnished truth. We shall not 
tell you how many to order, that is up to you. 
but this beats getting a brand new Ford for 
$25.00. You will have one of the greatest 
regrets of your life coming if you don't get 
your share of Superb plants. We have a fine 
lot of them, and as soon as our catalog reaches 
you, place your order for Superb, if you per- 
haps hold back you other orders. If you could 
only get one plant, and could get it no cheaper, 
you could afford to give your best horse for it. 
We have the true to name Superb; they will 
do all we say for them, and when you set your 
berry plants in the spring and they commence 
to grow and throw out young plants, they (the 
young plants) will have berries on the first 
summer as well as the plant set in the spring. 
Progressive, with us, the second year, were 
wav behind the Superb in amount of fruit borne 
and general vitality. Progressive does its best 
the first year. I can go out at this date (Nov- 
ember 26) and find plenty of live Superb blos- 
.soms with ripe and green berries as well. We 
have had snow, and ground has been frozen 
hard enough to freeze potatoes in the ground, 
and still the blossoms are not hurt. You ought 
to see how they hide, like a sparrow in a straw 
stack. They are there but you can't see them, 
hidden and tucked away under the massive and 
vigorous foliage. They will freeze after awhile, 
but that will be when the fire is in the grate 
and your automobile radiator is either drained 
or cracked. 
Among the other berries don't forget Superb, 
r^ast year every other order had som.e overbear- 
