To Our Customers. 
Friends:—We presume the most of 
you have already looked dver our 
price list on another page, noting the 
new varieties, the older standards and 
the prices for 1904, especially of those 
you are thinking of setting most 
largely, and have now turned to our 
annual letter and will no doubt read 
our little book clear through, and 
when you have read it, we would be 
glad if you would lend it to your 
neighbor or friend who is getting in¬ 
terested in strawberries or potatoes 
or better still send us their address 
when you write and we will mail them 
a copy and add a few of some new 
sorts to your own order. Only let us 
know what you would like that our 
desire to please you may be gratified. 
So many of our friends send in new 
addresses from time to time that we 
have often wanted to say something 
more at length about it in our annual 
letter. It may seem a small matter to 
you to recommend us to your neigh¬ 
bor or friend and send us the new ad¬ 
dress, but when your friend has be¬ 
come our friend he will recommend 
us in return and so it goes. 
We advertise each season in the best 
agricultural and horticultural papers 
and count it money well spent in the 
increase of our business, but the 
strongest and best advertisement is 
the word of mouth recommend of a 
satisfied customer. Wc know that 
you send us these new addresses from 
pure good will, knowing that we de¬ 
sire them, but we are more than will¬ 
ing and anxious to do you all the 
good we can in turn beyond the full 
value for money received for your 
order, which is only good business at 
the best. If we are allowed to make 
you a little present for these new 
names please tell us plainly what 
will please you most. 
Last season we fruited 2,000 bushel 
of strawberries, the finest as a whole 
that we have ever grown. In former 
seasons it has often happened that we 
were sold out of many sorts, leaving 
only a few odds and ends of rows to 
fruit, but of late years we have found 
our strawberries our most profitable 
crop, including all those of the farm 
and our market gardens, and when we 
did not have half enough plants to 
supply the demand here in the spring 
of 1902, which followed the season of 
great drouth in Missouri and other 
states where we have many cus¬ 
tomers, some of whom grow straw- 
beries by the carload, we deter¬ 
mined to plan our setting large 
enough for any possible demand upon 
it in 1903 with a good big surplus left 
to fruit. We had sold that spring a 
half million plants of the Senator 
Dunlap alone, a comparatively new 
variety, but one that we had set 
heavily, rightly judging it would soon 
prove very popular. We again set 
largely of it as well as of the Uncle 
Jim, Marie and others, especially for 
fruit. Our crop was mostly of the 
above but we had a showing of nearly 
all sorts. We had a freeze at one 
time that killed the bloom and even 
all the buds in sight, but our plants 
were all on new strong ground and 
had made abundant roots and big 
crowns with energy enough to push 
out new fruiting stems and we had 
the largest crop and finest berries 
anywhere around. To show you how 
they compared elsewhere we copy 
the following:— 6—8—’03 
“F. & P., Gents:—your 12 bushels 
today arrived after dinner, 2 p. m. 
They were the finest stock I have 
seen in many a day, am sorry they 
cannot arrive early in the morning 
instead of noon, as I dislike to hold 
them over night. Do not ship to any 
one else in this city. My having the 
exclusive sale of such fancy stock 
keeps up the price. They all held 
back for $3.50 per bu., as other local 
fancy stock sold at $3.00. I sold 4 
bu, at $4.25, 4 at $4 and 4 at $3-50= 
$47.00. 
Ship all you can and I’ll give your 
stock my personal attention, selling 
same to the highest bidder. I handle 
the Columbia N. stock, of Rochester, 
N. Y., in this city and surroundings. 
Yours respectfully, 
H. B. B.” 
These berries were mostly Senator 
Dunlaps, picked from rows that had 
been partly dug for plants and were 
not mulched. They fruited a little 
earlier than the same variety in an¬ 
other field with Uncle Jim, Marie and 
others that were mulched and some¬ 
thing finer when they came to fruit. 
Our first berries in any amount 
were from August Luther and Ex¬ 
celsior, followed closely by Beder- 
See A B C of Strawberry Culture and other Valuable Books, inside Back Cover. 
