Part 1

Produced by MFR, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

Transcriber’s Notes

^{text} represents superscript text, _text_ and =text= represent text printed in italics and in bold face, respectively. Small capitals have been changed to ALL CAPITALS.

More Transcriber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text.

KELLOGG’S _Great Crops of_ STRAWBERRIES _And How to Grow Them_ THE KELLOGG WAY

1922

R. M. KELLOGG CO. THREE RIVERS, MICH.

Our Credentials

GEO. F. WOLF, PRESIDENT F. E. BEATTY, VICE PRES. H. C. KAAS, CASHIER W. WATERS, JR., ASST. CASHIER C. A. DENTZLER, ASST. CASHIER

FIRST STATE SAVINGS BANK

CAPITAL AND SURPLUS $100,000.00

THREE RIVERS, MICH.

To Whom it May Concern:

We are personally acquainted with the officers and management of R. M. Kellogg Company of Three Rivers, Mich., and take pleasure in endorsing their ideals and business methods as the very highest.

Mr. F. E. Beatty, President and General Manager, is Vice President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of this Bank and in our many intimate business relations he has stood out conspicuously as a man of strict integrity. It is but a natural consequence that under his capable, efficient management, R. M. Kellogg Company has become the world’s largest exclusive strawberry plant nursery.

We unhesitatingly recommend this Company to any prospective buyer of strawberry plants with assurance of fair, courteous treatment also that Kellogg Pedigree Plants will be found exactly as represented.

FIRST STATE SAVINGS BANK

President

Your Assurance of Vigorous, Healthy Plants

MICHIGAN CERTIFICATE OF NURSERY INSPECTION

This is to certify that I have examined the nursery stock of R. M. Kellogg Co., Three Rivers, Mich., and find it apparently free from dangerous insects and dangerously contagious tree and plant diseases.

L. R. TAFT, State Inspector of Nurseries and Orchards.

(_NOTE--A copy of this Certificate of Inspection accompanies every shipment of Kellogg Pedigree Plants. We also attach State Certificate or Permit to conform to requirements of each State._)

This entire book is fully protected by U. S. Copyright. Unauthorized use of any of the illustrations or text contained herein constitutes an infringement which will be vigorously prosecuted.

R. M. KELLOGG CO.

R.M.KELLOGG CO. [Illustration] THREE RIVERS, MICH.

Success Demands Progress!

Characteristic of the mighty oak has been the development and growth of our Company, the origin of which dates back through many years to a modest beginning having as its inception, a firm belief in the World’s demand for bigger crops of better strawberries.

A fervent application of Nature’s inevitable law,--that improvement both in plant and fruit results from continued selection of the strong and elimination of the unfit,--has been largely responsible in winning for Kellogg Pedigree Plants their world-wide reputation for strength, vigor, hardiness and productiveness. It is due to their exceptional merits and the fact that we have followed religiously the Golden Rule in every business transaction, that we now occupy our enviable position as the World’s largest and most successful exclusive strawberry plant breeders.

For many years we have been forging ahead with a steady, healthy growth--not of the mushroom type which springs up over night and withers as quickly,--but rather like the sturdy oak, capable of enduring the elements and adversities of time. With this growth has come also a remarkable degree of success and prosperity. This is of great significance to every present or prospective strawberry grower because the success of any business firm invariably is but a reflection of the success of its customers.

It is but natural that I am proud of our record of achievement and of the success of our customers. And yet I fully realize there is no standing still--that _=success demands progress=_ and it is this realization that constantly spurs me on to greater aspirations. The spirit of progression prevails throughout our entire organization, but most noticeably perhaps in our experimental and research work as applied both to culture and varieties.

I am ever on the alert for new and improved methods leading to greater efficiency. New varieties and seedlings are under continual test in our experimental beds. Many disqualify and are rejected to every one which proves worthy of adoption and introduction. Discouragement and obstacles are ever present. To overcome them requires unlimited perseverance, determination, energy and above all, a confidence born of the knowledge that we are looked up to and depended upon to render the real, worthwhile service so necessary to the success of strawberry growers everywhere.

But as every cloud has its silver lining, there is also the bright and pleasant side in our work for occasionally our efforts are rewarded with success.

Does it pay? Yes, our customers agree with me that it does. Who, for instance, can place an intelligent estimate of value upon such universally popular varieties as our Kellogg’s Premier, Dr. Burrill, Magic Gem, Kellogg’s Prize, Kellogg’s Big Late, Kellogg’s Big Wonder and Sionilli, all of which are our own introductions representing years of effort and expense?

It is my pleasure this year to introduce two wonderful new varieties, Kellogg’s Marvel, (the Marvel of Beauty and Productiveness) and Kellogg’s Delicious, (the Strawberry that Satisfies), both destined to become leaders as soon as growers learn of their marvelous superiority. We have tested them thoroughly for several years and never have known their equal in any other varieties of their respective seasons.

These varieties are described on Pages 22 and 23 and illustrated elsewhere in this book, but words and pictures cannot do them justice. They must be grown to be appreciated and I hope you will set as many plants as possible of either or both of these new varieties which promise a pleasant revelation at fruiting time and a clearer understanding why our business enjoys such unparalleled success.

Notwithstanding this success however, I am not satisfied to lean on our past reputation as it is not my disposition to let good enough alone.

Although today we are standing on the highest pinnacle of success, tomorrow will bring a vision of something higher. It is my purpose to continue constantly on our upward progress, improving over the past whenever and wherever possible because _=our customers place their confidence in us and their success as well as our success demands progress=_.

Sincerely yours,

President.

P. S.--We thoroughly enjoy visitors and I hope everyone who reads this book will accept this as a personal invitation from me to visit us. I want to show you the wonderful work we are doing; to convince you that our every argument in favor of Kellogg Pedigree Plants is as sound as the proverbial dollar. You will be entertained as our guests and at our expense while here.

You will find us just common folks working hand-in-hand with Nature. When you leave here after your visit we’ll be just like old personal acquaintances and, like all others who have visited our farm, you’ll be glad you came and want to come again.

F. E. B.

A Glimpse Into Our Organization

Page 7 shows our officers and department heads. We employ as many as one hundred fifty people during our busy season and from Mr. Beatty our President and General Manager, right through to our janitor, we are first-name acquaintances. Some of our employes have been with us more than twenty-five years.

Our policy of treating employes as men and brothers has resulted in a corps of loyal, industrious and highly capable department heads and employes, making our organization an ideal of efficiency.

The loyalty of our employes was given forcible expression during recent years when labor difficulties were rife and agitation and unrest seemed the natural state of affairs. Throughout this period when so many firms found it difficult to operate with any degree of satisfaction, our operations were continued unhampered with no indication of labor trouble. This shows the keen loyalty and respect we merit from those who are closely associated with our organization and who consequently know us most intimately.

Conspicuous in our every department is unity of purpose. We are working hand-in-hand, closely co-operating in every way to furnish Kellogg customers with the best plants that can be produced at the lowest possible prices consistent with high quality and to render every service necessary to their complete success with Kellogg strawberries.

Rev. J. R. Reasoner, Originator of the World-Famed Senator Dunlap and Dr. Burrill Varieties, Endorses Kellogg Statements and Methods

The following tribute from Rev. J. R. Reasoner, veteran strawberry grower and originator of Senator Dunlap and Dr. Burrill, two of the most popular varieties ever introduced--(each the result of many years of untiring effort in scientific crossing and breeding)--should be of special significance to every one who grows or contemplates growing strawberries. Dr. Reasoner is of quiet, unassuming disposition. To know is to love, respect and admire this grand old gentleman to whom honor and right are paramount. He has been acquainted with us for years and his selection of our Company to present to the world Dr. Burrill, the Million Dollar Strawberry, was a substantial expression of the tribute presented below. Read his letter:

URBANA, ILL., August 10, 1921.

R. M. KELLOGG CO., Three Rivers, Mich.

Gentlemen:

For many years I have read with considerable interest “Great Crops of Strawberries and How to Grow Them” and have been very favorably impressed with your fair, honest descriptions of varieties and the scientific methods under which Kellogg Pedigree Plants are produced. Your claims of superiority impress me as being fully justified.

Your efforts in improving the strawberry, stimulating its culture and especially in encouraging the home strawberry garden are highly commendable. I am convinced that you are doing a wonderful work and that as plant breeders, you rank among the country’s great benefactors.

If I were twenty-five years younger and in good health, I would again engage in plant breeding but when a fellow reaches my age, he loses his recuperative forces.

My Senator Dunlap and Dr. Burrill were not financial successes to me counting the years of labor required to perfect them, but the satisfaction that they have been of such great benefit to humanity is ample compensation to me.

You have my best wishes for abundant success which you so fully deserve and I hope that you may realize your largest expectations.

Never have we known of a single instance in which a visit here failed to convince that everything is just as we represent or even better. The following is an extract from a letter written us by one of the officials of the Michigan Horticultural Department upon receiving our catalog:

“I have read your new catalog with much interest. It not only should attract present and prospective strawberry growers but its illustrations and descriptions give a very accurate idea of your different varieties as I have seen them growing on the Kellogg Farm.”

Kellogg Pedigree Plants and How They Are Produced

A juicy, tender sirloin costs more than a chuck steak; silver although it glitters is not as valuable as gold and you would expect to pay more for a wool garment than one of a lower grade fabric.

These comparisons emphasize the fact that any article of superior quality--whether food, clothing, luxury, or any commodity--even though sold at a higher price, invariably proves the best and most economical investment.

Ranking as ‘top-notchers’ in every test, dependable as Mother Nature herself and yielding berries of a quality unsurpassed in delicious flavor and smooth texture by anything in the fruit or vegetable kingdom, it is not surprising that Kellogg Pedigree Plants are the choice of such a vast majority of strawberry growers. Many of these growers too are shrewd, seasoned business men and women whose intimate contact with industry has taught them the folly of seeking bargains and the wisdom in investing only where quality is assured. Theirs is indeed a wise discrimination in selecting Kellogg Pedigree Plants for nowhere is the lack or presence of quality more convincingly shown than in strawberry plants at fruiting time.

We of course claim superiority for Kellogg Pedigree Plants. This you would naturally expect and our strongest claims would count for naught were they not verified by thousands who know and grow them. Throughout this book we have reproduced reports selected at random as representative of many which have come to us from growers whose interest in our plants exists merely because they have found them in every way the most profitable and desirable. If better plants were to be had they would readily plant and endorse them.

Reasons for Superiority

For every result there must be a corresponding cause. We have referred to the superior qualities of Kellogg Pedigree Plants. Now we are going to explain the reasons why these plants are superior both in plant growth and berry production.

First Step in Crop Rotation

Follow us please through our regular process of crop rotation and soil preparation beginning just as we have finished digging and shipping a crop of Kellogg Pedigree Plants in May.

The ground on which these plants were grown is first plowed deeply (eight to nine inches) after which it is harrowed repeatedly both with spring tooth and disc. Following this it is packed with roller and the result is a perfect seed bed thoroughly pulverized the full depth of plowing. All vegetation which remained at the time of plowing has been cut up and crushed so as to decay rapidly.

The ground is then seeded to alfalfa and remains in this crop for three years. The first two years it is cut for hay. The third year the first crop is mowed and allowed to remain on the field as a mulch just as it falls from the mower blade. The second growth comes up through this mulch and the entire crop is then plowed under.

Value of Legumes

Alfalfa is a legume or nitrogen gathering plant. An examination of the roots of leguminous plants reveals numerous bacteria nodules which vary in size, shape and number according to the kind and age of the plant. A very close relation has been found to exist between leguminous plants and the bacteria existing within these nodules. The plant furnishes the nourishment required by the bacteria while the bacteria in turn draw nitrogen from the air and render it available for the use of the plant. Nitrogen is essential to plant life. The plowing under and resulting decay of legume plants releases vast quantities of nitrogen into the soil where it may be absorbed and assimilated by succeeding crops.

The accompanying illustration shows the nodule development on the roots of a two-months-old legume plant.

Other Rotation Crops

Following the alfalfa, we sow a mixture of rye and vetch which is plowed under when the rye is in head and the vetch in bloom as at this time the vetch (which also is a legume) attains its greatest development of nitrogen nodules and the rye its greatest humus value. After this has been incorporated with the soil and a pulverized seed bed formed as before, it is seeded to a mixture of cow-peas and buckwheat.

The resulting growth seems almost magic for in a few weeks both the buckwheat and cow-peas are in bloom and the growth becomes so rank and dense that it is difficult if not actually impossible to progress far into the field afoot. Just before the seed ripens this growth is rolled down, cut up with disc and plowed under. The buckwheat adds humus and the cow-peas, (another legume), both humus and additional nitrogen. After this has been thoroughly worked into the soil and a perfect seed-bed again formed fall has arrived and the ground is seeded to oats.

The Final Rotation Crop

Oats serves a double purpose;--provides to a certain extent a winter protection against the porosity caused by alternate freezing and thawing and its decay renders the soil mellow and easily worked.

During the winter a top dressing of stable manure is applied at the rate of fifteen tons per acre and the oats and manure are plowed under just as early as the soil can be worked the following spring. The manure furnishes nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in quantities which with that already furnished by the rotation crops, makes a properly balanced plant food.

Again it is worked and with spring tooth and disc harrows and rolled until it forms a pulverized seed-bed and after being marked into rows and cross marked, it is again ready for Kellogg Pedigree Plants.

We Practice and Recommend Spring Planting

We practice what we preach by setting our plants in the spring exclusively (during April or May) as we have found through many years of experience that spring setting gives surest results in the North. In the Southern States plants may be set with success either in the spring or fall.

Kellogg Pedigree Plants,--Yearlings

Every spring the fields which have just produced plants are plowed at the close of our shipping season and put through our crop rotation process. This thoroughly renovates the soil and supplies in proper proportions nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the essential elements of plant food together with an abundance of humus, the medium through which plants feed. It is what might be termed a regenerative process because it actually renews or rebuilds the soil.

It is impossible to find any plants on the Kellogg farm more than one year old except in our testing and experimental beds, and the mother plants in our propagating fields. In digging plants for shipment all mother plants are thrown out. Only their offspring,--strong, sturdy, young runner plants, are used in filling orders. This assures Kellogg customers young blood, full of life and stamina. When such plants are set in the customer’s field or garden, growth is rapid and vigorous.

Answering an Appeal for Moisture “When Nature Refuses”

During periods of drouth, our Skinner Irrigation System is relied upon as crop insurance. It’s value is not limited to furnishing moisture to Kellogg Pedigree Plants alone for it is just as frequently used in supplying moisture to our rotation crops.

Like the good Samaritan of Sacred History, it brings water from the nearby stream and applies it soothingly to the thirsty plants in the form of gentle, mist-like, refreshing rain which thoroughly saturates the ground to their very root tips. If drouth prevails at seeding time, its near-natural-rainfall insures prompt germination of seed which is necessary to a successful crop. It likewise is depended upon to furnish an uninterrupted supply of moisture ‘whenever Nature refuses’. Often it is the only means of saving the crop.

This system enables us to furnish Kellogg Pedigree Plants with moisture throughout the growing season, insuring unhampered and unchecked development both of plant and root systems.

With this dependable substitute for natural rainfall, the intense and prolonged drouth of 1921 (the most serious in many years) was not the serious matter with us which it otherwise would have been.

There is also another way in which our Skinner Irrigation System serves our customers, for it gives us an increased production of thousands of plants per acre. As the size of our plant crop bears a direct relation to the prices of Kellogg Pedigree Plants, you can readily see that this increased production is an important factor in enabling us to quote the low prices given on Page 66 of this book.

Hoeing, Cultivating and Removing Blossoms

Our propagating fields are hoed and cultivated repeatedly during the growing season and all blossoms are removed as fast as they appear. We remove the blossoms from the everbearers just as late as we possibly can, but during the fall they blossom so profusely that this would require a small army. At that time however, they are firmly established and have a fully developed root and crown system and are therefore not unfavorably affected by these late blossoms and the few berries which develop.

Spraying

Dangerous insects and dangerously contagious plant diseases are strangers on the Kellogg farm. As precaution against any possible attacks by pests however, Kellogg Pedigree Plants are sprayed frequently during the growing season with Bordeaux mixture, arsenate of lead and lime-sulphur. This prevents the possibility of contamination of any nature.

Mulching

Our plants are mulched for winter to the extent that we are able to obtain material for mulching. The mulching is applied after the first heavy freezing in the winter. This protects the ground against alternate freezing and thawing. The mulching is removed in the spring before the plants are dug.

Digging

Every Kellogg Plant is freshly dug at time of shipment in the spring and practically every plant is packed and on the way to the customer within twenty-four hours after it is dug. We never dig plants in the fall and hold them in storage over winter for spring shipment as we do not believe in this practice and do not have any storage facilities of this nature.

Packing for Shipment