W. F. Allen’s Plant and Seed Catalogue, Salisbury, Md. 
3 
CAKDINAL. —1 i'he demand for this plant last 
, . x spring was so great that before I 
knew it every plant was dug up and shipped away, 
although I intended to leave some for fruiting, and 
therefore I cannot give you ray personal description 
of the variety, except that it is a fine growing, healthy 
plant. I clip the following from my 1900 catalogue : 
In the spring of 1905 I bought 100 plants of the 
Cardinal : 25 of them were delayed in transit and 
practically of no value, leaving me only about 75 
good plants with which to make a start. These were 
given somewhat better attention than the average, 
and they produced about 12,000 plants that were very 
large and showed great vigor. Anyone cannot fail to 
s>te that a large, stalky plant that will make 12,000 
plants from 75 in one season, or almost 200 to the 
plant, is exceptionally vigorous. These plants, being 
propagated for plants only, were not set near any per¬ 
fect fiowering variety, and consequently not much in 
the way of fruit could be expected on the few plants 
that were left. There were, however, quite a number 
of clusters which showed quality, firmness and beauty. 
My opinion is that this variety is all that has been 
claimed for it, and I will give below the description 
written by those who are more familiar with the berry. 
George J. Streator, the originator, says: 
"In 1906, while working in one of my gardens, which 
was used alternately for strawberries and vegetables, 
and in which self-sown seedlings were common, one of 
them showed remarkable proportions. The seed and 
second leaves were of unusual size. It was a little 
giant among the seedlings; it seemed a little prize 
them ; it has proved a great prize since. Fruiting with 
a lot of promising seedlings the next season, it sur¬ 
passed them all. It was the largest and most vigorous 
plant. The leaves were large and healthy, making a 
superb lung system for a plant. A great truss of beau¬ 
tiful bright red berries pushed through the foliage on a 
stem of remarkable size; the firm, solid berries were 
of ideal shape, large and firm, with qualitv of pro¬ 
nounced flavor. The plant matured them all. After 
fruiting, the mother plant showed uncommon vitality 
in the large number of strong pink runners that made 
a great cluster of plants. Autumn set plants of these, 
in comparison with a score of the good old kinds and 
best new ones, showed great superiority. The superior 
size of the plants, the power to produce runners, the 
size of the fruit and its great productiveness, makes it 
a giant among strawberries, and for a time was called 
Gigantic, but from its color it was afterwards called 
Cardinal.” 
A. W. Clark, a noted grower of Providence, R. I., 
speak# of it as follows : 
“The Cardinal produces the most beautiful clusters 
of berries I have ever seen, during 35 years that 1 have 
grown strawberries. They were shown in the window 
of one of my customers on a principal street in the 
city, wfeere crowds of people halted to admire them. 
At our Rhode Island exhibition I was awarded for the 
Cardinal fret, prize for best new variety, first prize for 
best quart, and the officers of the society were so muA 
pleased with the Cardinal that they awarded me a Cer¬ 
tificate of Merit for its large size, good flavor, product¬ 
iveness, good color, and long hearing, it being the first 
time such a certificate had ever been given any straw¬ 
berry by the society. My plants produced berries* for 
three weeks, and the foliage now stands up 12 to 15 
inches high, fresh and green.” 
The following I borrow from M. Crawford’s cata¬ 
logue : 
"Cardinal (ImpA—Probably this has be-en more 
prominently before the public for the last two years 
than any other berry, it was originated, or rattier 
discovered, in 1890. by Mr. George J. Streator, a well- 
known Ohio horticulturist, now in California, and in¬ 
troduced two years ago by the Templin Company, of 
Oalla, Ohio. We have been familiar with this splen¬ 
did berry for four years, and our faith in it lives and 
grows. The plant is perfect, large and luxuriant, and 
sends out many sturdy runners, which take root read¬ 
ily and make strong plants. The leaves are smooth 
and handmoroe, and very large and thick, furnishing 
abundant shelter for the blooms and berries. The fruit 
Is large, though not the largest, nearly round, obtusely 
pointed, and beautifully smooth and uniform. The 
color is a rich, brilliant red—no white or green tips— 
