BIG JOE PATHFINDER 
Big Joe, Joe and Joe Johnson are all names 
that have been given to this fine old variety. 
Big Joe makes a strong, vigorous plant growth. 
The individual plants are quite large and 
usually do not need spacing. The plants are 
moderately productive and under favorable 
conditions may be very productive. The ber¬ 
ries are large and of very fine quality. A bril¬ 
liant red flesh color, prominent red to yellow 
seeds and a big green cap combine to make a 
very showy and attractive berry. Big Joe ber¬ 
ries are fairly firm and in this shipping section 
of Maryland they have for years sold well on 
local auction markets, outselling Catskill much 
of the time. 
Reports from growers on Big Joe are usually 
very good or very bad. Under conditions which 
suit it, Big Joe is a very fine midseason berry— 
next to Catskill in all around value. The weak¬ 
ness of Big Joe is that it isn’t always a heavy 
producer. It is quite susceptible to frost injury. 
A heavy frost or light freeze may kill the crop. 
A medium or light frost may “nip” the blossoms 
just enough to make a lot of misshapen berries 
with hard, knotty green ends. But keep Big 
Joe away from frost and it will give really re¬ 
markable results. 
If you are a Big Joe grower, be careful of 
mixed plants. We are positive that our stock 
is straight, but there are dozens of farmers in 
this section who have Big Joe thoroughly mixed 
with Lupton. As both are good varieties here 
and nearly the same season, they don’t try very 
hard to get them straight. We have seen so 
much of this particular mixture that we have 
been extra careful on these varieties and can 
supply you from a stock that is straight. Price 
list, page 35. 
Culver 
A New York State introduction. 
Does better here than any of 
the other New York State varie¬ 
ties except Catskill. The plants are very vigor¬ 
ous and healthy and the berries are large, beau¬ 
tiful red color with bright green caps. The 
berries are fairly firm, considerably darker in 
color than the Clermont, and red to the center. 
Worth trying. Price list, page 35. 
/ 
In one of the early tests at the New Haven 
Connecticut Experiment Station, Dr. D. F. 
Jones reported yields at the rate of 15,000 
quarts per acre from Pathfinder. “Pathfinder 
was the outstanding variety of the 1939 tests,” 
he says, “and in three years in Connecticut, 
yields of Pathfinder have always been equal 
to or larger than Premier.” And in 1940 Path¬ 
finder even outyielded Catskill at the same 
station. 
Pathfinder (N. J. 25) was originated by Prof. 
J. Harold Clark. It proved its value in New 
Jersey in extensive tests with commercial grow¬ 
ers in that state before being named and re¬ 
leased for general introduction. 
The outstanding thing about Pathfinder is 
its tremendous productiveness. If we were asked 
to name the four most productive varieties of 
strawberries without regard to any other factors 
they would be Premier, Catskill, Dresden and 
Pathfinder, with no attempt to rank these four 
except to group them at the top. 
The heavy yields of Pathfinder are made pos¬ 
sible by an unusually healthy and vigorous plant 
growth—plenty of new plants are made—large 
strong ones. 
The berries are uniform in shape, almost 
round as shown in the picture. The caps are 
small but attractive in the north, but become 
dry and brown in hot dry seasons further 
South. 
In the North the berries are a very attractive 
light red and ripen evenly all over. In Maryland 
they do not ripen evenly, many berries exposed 
to the sun become quite dark on the exposed 
side before the ground side colors at all. 
With us the berries are quite soft and rather 
poor in quality. As with Premier, however, 
when planted further North the berries im¬ 
prove both in quality and firmness. 
In sections where the new red stele disease 
has become established growers may find an¬ 
other reason for setting Pathfinder. It is 
unusually resistant to red stele. 
While it cannot be recommended for the 
Southern states, Pathfinder should certainly be 
tried out by Northern growers who have a fairly 
heavy fertile soil, a nearby market, and who 
want maximum production. Price list, page 35. 
im ^ A new midseason variety 
from North Carolina (613). 
Plants very vigorous. Ber¬ 
ries very high quality, large size, light red color 
and quite firm. Moderately productive. 
Pathfinder Berries 
1G 
