W. F. Allen’s Plant and Seed Catalogue, Salisbury, Md. 
13 
COMMONWEALTH. — Commonwealth fruited 
with me the past sea¬ 
son and proved to be a very good sort. We picked a 
good quantity of fine large berries. I do not especially 
recommend this variety for the South, as I think it is 
more adapted to the Northern sections, and for best 
results should be given high culture. When these con¬ 
ditions are met it is a very fancy berry. I quote from 
Mr. Monroe, the originator, as follows : 
“The Commonwealth is the outcome of the desire 
and an effort to produce a berry that would percep¬ 
tibly lengthen the strawberry season. In the Common¬ 
wealth we have a berry that is as large as the largest, 
as productive as any of the largest, as fine flavor, as 
solid and as dark color as any. It has a smooth sur¬ 
face, is very rich and juicy, and has strong staminate 
blossoms. On the 17th day of July, 1902, as good ber¬ 
ries wet-e picked as at any lime during its season, Mar¬ 
shall, Glen Mary and McKinley, side by side with it, 
being gone. The last berries were picked July 22. The 
plant is a strong grower, not so rank as the Marshall, 
and a fair plant-maker. The Massachusetts Horticul¬ 
tural Society, always ready to recognize special merit, 
awarded the Commonwealth first prize in competition 
July 5, 1902, and July 11, 1903.” 
James J. H. Gregory, the wed-known seedsman, of 
Marblehead, Mass., has this to Say : 
“I saw the Commonwealth on the grounds of the 
originator, and a grand sight it was. The berry is tre¬ 
mendously large (14 of those I picked filled a quart 
basket), the berries are symmetrical in shape, and have 
a rich, glossy color ; the flesh is red, nearly as dark as 
the Marshall. It is a great cropper and appears to be 
hard flesh enough tb ship well. One of its most valu¬ 
able characteristics Ms its lateness in maturing, for 
when I was there, July 2. the large bed, which had 
bushels of growing fruit, had to be searched over very 
carefully to find a quart of ripe berries.” 
C. S. Pratt says: “It is a week later than Sample 
and a better berry; it will be sold as the Marshall and 
nine-tenths of the people will not know the difference.” 
Benj. M. Smith, of Beverly, Mass., well known as a 
grower of fine strawberries, and the introducer of the 
Beverly strawberry, says that he has “watched the 
Commonwealth carefully on the originator’s grounds 
by the side of all the leading varieties, and for vigor 
and plant productiveness and quality of fruit it excels 
them all.” He says it is very late and one of the best 
he ever saw. 
Ci-iYUjb'. '1 his is a very popular berry in some sec¬ 
tions, especially in the middle West. We 
have sold a great many thousand plants of Clyde in 
Kentucky, where it seems to be one-of the leading ones 
for main crop. The Clyde is immensely productive, 
with fruit nearly as large as the Bubach, and would 
be one of the most popular varieties, but for the fact 
that its foliage sometimes gives Way about fruiting 
time, and there is not sufficient to protect its immense 
crop of fruit. This deficiency can to a very great ex¬ 
tent be overcome by an application of nitrate of soda 
just before they come in blossom, being careffil to put 
it on when the plants are dry. When this method is 
followed it is a very desirable variety. 
