EIRME 3 Mid-season (NYS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION—1950) 
ERIE makes up, with EDEN and EMPIRE, a trio of the new strawberries 
developed by Dr. George Slate at Geneva, N. Y., and as EDEN and EM- 
PIRE are outstanding, so also is ERIE. We have not had the yields nor 
the success with ERIE generally at The Berry Patch, that we had with 
EDEN and EMPIRE, but from reports from other test growers, it seems 
that there is a strong possibility that under certain soil conditions and in 
certain areas, ERIE will do all and more than EMPIRE will do in the way 
of berry size and yield plus being a slightly firmer berry with better ship- 
ping qualities than EMPIRE. ERIE is also said to freeze very well, when 
well grown. 
Our suggestion would be to try all three of these new introductions for 
your Own comparison under your own soil and climatic conditions. 
PREMIER The Best Earliest 
Premier strawberries are to the small fruit world what bread is to the 
grocery store—a staple item of proven worth and great dependability. 
Premier is still the best earliest strawberry for the home garden or com- 
mercial use. Premier is still the strawberry for which we get the most 
calls on plants—and we are generally sold out of our well rogued, 
especially sturdy stock long before the season is over. We do not think 
Premier is the best strawberry to grow under any and all circumstances. 
But we do continue to offer Premier, the best that we can grow, because 
of its tremendous popularity and because it is probably the best adapted 
of all the strawberry varieties to different climates, soils and cultural con- 
ditions. If this is your first strawberry patch, do put in some Premier. It 
is sure berry insurance for the veriest amateur. 
ROBINSON  Mid-season, Huge, Productive 
Here again is that medium late strawberry with the tremendous fruit size 
that is amazingly gratifying to the home gardener. The fruit is firm and 
sweet fleshed, solid all through the berry under almost all weather condi- 
tions. Many roadside stands have made a reputation on Robinson straw- 
berries and we have some fruit customers who insist on Robinson for 
freezing. If you have room in your home garden, do plant some Robinson 
for your Own amazement and to delight your neighbors. If you are a 
market gardener or have a roadside stand, try a few Robinson for your 
customers. It is a good berry, makes a heavy row and is gratifying, to 
say the least. 
SPARKLE Late, Red Stele Resistant 
Sparkle is so rapidly becoming standard in the strawberry world for fresh 
fruit excellence and its especially fine freezing qualities, we are almost at 
a loss for proper description. Sparkle’s round shape, medium large berries 
and brilliant sheen plus a fresh, bright flavor that is sweetness itself, 
brought Sparkle to its present eminence and will keep Sparkle in the 
limelight for years to come. If the home gardener can plant but one 
variety of strawberry, we would suggest Sparkle as that variety, because 
of its big yields, all around usefulness and universal acceptance. Market 
gardeners will revere Sparkle for its firm skin and fine holding qualities 
in the crate, to say nothing of the fact that a large proportion of the pub- 
lic is now “Sparkle educated”. Fine fruit and vegetable stores look first 
for Sparkle when buying in the open market, for its keeping qualities and 
fancy appearance even after standing. Sparkle is mid-season to late, a 
heavy yielder under irrigation, and responds well to mulch for moisture 
retention in the soil. By all means, do not overlook Sparkle when plant- 
ing this year’s strawberry bed. 
TEMPLE Mid-season, Red Stele Resistant 
Four years ago, we brought into The Berry Patch, over three thousand 
strawberry plants from three different growers, all under the name of 
FAIRFAX. By rights, all of the three thousand plants should have pro- 
duced the same kind of fruit, but it did not happen to be the case with 
our plants. Only a thousand of the plants produced the kind of fruit we 
immediately labelled in our thoughts as the very finest table strawberry 
ENTIRE CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 1953, THE BERRY PATCH 
