4 
W. P. Allen’s Plant and Seed Catalogue, Salisbury, Md. 
VIRGINIA.— (See colored plate.) 12,000 quart; 
per acre is the record made by the Virginia straw 
berry at its home m Accomack county Va., the pas; 
season. In point of earliness it was only two oi 
three days later than Excelsior with the originator 
and with me it ripened same time as Excelsior 
growing side by side. As above stated, the Virginif 
is very productive and of a uniform]v large size foi 
an early berry. In the Philadelphia market the pas! 
season the Virginia sold for twice as much as othei 
extra early varieties. It is firm enough to make a 
good shipping berry, and, being uniformly large foi 
an early berry and a bright glossy red color, it can 
edepended upon to bring top-notch prices; indeed, 
I believe it to be the best early berry on the market 
today, and were I going to plant a large or small 
patch of early bernes, I should plant every one 
Virginia, except just enough of some perfect flower¬ 
ing variety to pollenize it And right here I want to 
make a correction. Last season, through an error, 
the Virginia was listed as a perfect blossom, when it 
is a pistillate or nearly so. The catalogues were 
n early all mailed when the error was discovered. 
This berry won the $100 prize contest in 1905, 
over more than a hundred competitors. The prize 
■Wnet to cr e Thcs. J. Custis, of Accomack county 
Va.; hence its name, in honor of that 
grand and historic Stat*e. Notwithstand¬ 
ing the large number of varieties that 
were in this contest ,anv child could easily 
have selected the Virginia as the best one. 
A number of persons of more or less 
prominence who saw this trial plot were 
asked to give their opinion as to which one 
was entitled to the prize, and without a 
single exception they went to this variety. 
The Virginia is said to be a cross be¬ 
tween the great shipping berry, Hoffman, 
and the world-renowned, large, fancy 
berry, which is probably the oldest variety 
on our list today, the Sharpless. This is 
surely most excellent parentage, and the 
Virginia in a very large degree combines 
the good qualities and valuable character¬ 
istics of both. The foliage, while distinct, 
is very similar to the former, but is larger 
and stronger. The plant makes a strong, 
healthy growth, with plenty of runners, 
and never shows a spot of rust. Those 
who want an early berry that is remarka¬ 
bly free from disease, good size and good 
quality, ripening almost, if not quite, as 
early as the earliest varieties grown, should 
not fail to give this berry a trial, whether 
growing for home use, near market or dis¬ 
tant shipment. . As compared with Climax 
it is its equal in size and productiveness, 
quality and healthful vigor of plants, with 
the added advantage of being earlier and 
ripening its crop in a shorter season, there¬ 
by enabling the grower to get his entire 
crop off before the glut of mid -season va¬ 
rieties invades the markets. 
My contract with Mr. C ustis, 
the originator, is to the effect 
that no plants will be disposed 
of to anybody except myself for 
two years, and this season I have 
an excellent stock of my own 
growing. Enough that I am en¬ 
abled to offer this, the best of all 
early varieties, for the low price 
of 16 per 1000, or 125 for 5,000. 
1 know from personal experience that 
this berry is all right, and you need not 
hesitate to invest your money in it. 
THOMPSON’S No. 2. —Has made a very vigorous 
growth here, with healthy, dark green foliage The 
originator, Mark T. Thomas, makes the following 
claims for this berry : “Large size, beautiful color, 
having the appearance of being varnished; large 
double cap like the Gandy; immensely productive, 
the ground being literally covered; owing to the 
enormous crop of berries, its season is from four to 
five weeks. Very richest and best quality, best ship¬ 
per, has very tough skin, not easily broken by han¬ 
dling. It retains its beautiful dark green foliage ail 
through the season, not a spot of rust, and has a 
perfect blossom.” 
OOM PAUL. —This variety has made a wonderful 
growth of large healthy plants. It makes enough 
runners to bed up niclev and the fruit is long, large 
and sometimes flattened, Color dark red both inside 
and out; the flesh is quite firm and good quality. 
I believe this is a variety that is going to give gene¬ 
ral satisfaction. The Ohio Experiment Station 
says : “A fine large berry that has many good quali¬ 
ties and worthy of a careful trial for home or mar¬ 
ket.” 
Every Testimonial in this Catalogue is new | 
and genuine (no fakes in them) and they . 
were all sent voluntarily, not one asked for 
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