22 
W. F. Allen’s Plant and Seed Catalogue, Salisbury, Md. 
RED BIRD. —This is a valuable new early market 
berry which comes from Mississippi. 
It was highly recommended to me and I was induced 
to set a few plants about three years ago, and was sat 
isfsed from the first that it was a valuable addition to 
list. It is one of the heartiest plants that I have 
handled. At this writing (December 1) the vines 
still green and show very little indications of cold 
weather. 1 paid no special attention to the variety 
until it came in fruit in May, 1007. There was no 
extra care given to the variety, but simply field cul¬ 
ture. I had one long row which showed ‘up so well 
that one customer who saw it bought 50,000 plants on 
the spot. The same party, by the way, has just 
ordered 65,000 more plants for next spring. The berry 
!» very tart and would not be considered good eating 
without plenty of sugar, but as a first early shipping 
"berry, so far as I know of, it has no equal, i shall not 
.give you a long detail description of the Red Bird, but 
will give you the facts as I have seen them. The fruit 
’Will average larger than the Excelsior, and will bear 
jK«t twice as much per acre, and when I say twice as 
much I mean two quarts where the excelsior will bear 
one. It is one of the heartiest plants that I have ever 
jrrr?wn. It is a pistillate variety and the earliest pis¬ 
tillate variety that has ever been on the market. It 
would have to be fruited with some varieties like Ex- 
eekdor, Texas, Early Hathaway, or some very early 
fcjtoonaing variety. With me it was just as early as 
Excelsior, and by the second and third picking it gave 
twice as many berries to the row. If I were set- 
Wag out a large patch of early berries for market and 
wanted the earliest that I could get, I should plant all 
Red Bird, with the exception of the staminate rows 
planted to fruit it. 
CHLjETN MARY.—I introduced this variety twelve 
years ago at $10.00 per 1.00. 
Throughout New England and the West it is the lead¬ 
ing berry of the list today. We sell more plants of it 
in and year out than any variety that we grow, 
do not recommend it for this peninsula, or for the 
JO -th, but for New England. West and Northwest. I 
-.'M' if there is any variety that will equal it in every 
It 1® only semi-staminnte, but as its blossoms 
vmry pollen to fruit its own berries, it is 
as a «*?&miaate variety, but I would not recom- 
w-v;*| Hjr y -.-sut with pistillate varieties as a pollen- 
T'h: / - big. dark red beauties with prominent 
*v. > ;>•£■ yellow; the meat is rich and juicy and 
re-’: It? .'■/-i*r. They are of such high flavor that 
*■'■'**** ’ififten more are wanted. As a good, firm 
shiper it is very popular; for fancy local market there 
are few, if any, better. For this reason they are pop¬ 
ular with both the large and small growers. It has 
no particular choice of soils, and does not require 
petting. The roots are long and well-developed, pro¬ 
viding plenty of moisture during a drought. The foliage 
is large, upright in growth, dark green in color, leaves 
nearly round with dark glossy surface, making a beau¬ 
tiful appearance in the field. The fruit stems, although 
large and strong, are weighted to the ground by the 
large clusters of berries ; for this reason they should 
he well mulched to keep them clean. The berries are 
just the right size to make a fine appearance in the 
crate, and you do not have to he timid about asking a 
big price for them, as everyone will pay extra to get 
