Dollars and Sense in Setting Kellogg Pedigree Plants
A question which frequently arises in the mind of the prospective strawberry grower is whether there actually is enough difference in plants to justify the difference in the prices quoted by different plant growers.
If you were to install some modern convenience in your home, would you not be influenced in your selection largely by the service you could reasonably expect from it based on its past reputation? You will agree this would be the logical basis of selection.
It also should be the essential consideration in ordering strawberry plants, as you are to depend upon them for a service just as distinct in terms of quality and quantity of berries produced.
Have you ever considered the very slight relation of “price” to “cost,” also how frequently the word “cost” is misused? An article purchased at a low price often is referred to as being “cheap” when eventually it may prove far more costly than a higher priced article of better quality.
Don’t be deceived into believing that low price represents real economy. There are many factors in addition to price which go to make up ultimate cost and low price very often indicates “cheap quality” resulting invariably in “high cost.”
The one satisfactory way to reconcile “cost” and “price” is to be absolutely sure that the price you pay enables the producer to embody quality in the article.
The following comparison furnishes an intelligent application of the question of economy in the purchase of strawberry plants:
Let us assume that you have a strawberry patch consisting of 2,000 plants divided into two sections, each composed of an equal number of plants of the same varieties. One section is composed of “cheap” plants. You know nothing about the fruiting reputation of their ancestors nor the conditions under which these plants were produced. In fact, for all you know they may have been taken from a fruiting bed. You simply know that they are strawberry plants and that you obtained them at a low price.
The other section is set to Kellogg Pedigree Plants for which of course you paid a higher price. Perhaps you felt that you were unwise in paying the difference as there may be no visible difference in appearance.
At fruiting time however, when each section tells its own story, you will find that the “cheap” plants will have absolutely no argument to offer in their defense as the Kellogg Pedigree Plants will far outyield them and the berries will be of much higher quality.
At the close of the fruiting season you’ll more fully appreciate the difference in “cost.” The “cheap” plants require setting, feeding, hoeing, cultivating and lodging (use of your ground) to the same extent as others. In return you have found them loafers while the plants which at first seemed expensive were constantly on the job at fruiting time producing loads of big fancy berries which found a ready market at profitable prices.
This comparison is being made right along by thousands who are thus brought to a fuller, stronger realization of the folly in being influenced to set “cheap” strawberry plants.
To the thinking person, it is a self-evident fact that Kellogg Pedigree Plants which are bred in conformity with Nature’s laws up to the highest possible standards, must be far more profitable and desirable than plants produced to meet a certain low price.
Kellogg Pedigree Plants although a trifle higher in price, really don’t “cost” as much as ordinary plants because their higher productiveness and better quality berries insures additional returns which justify an expenditure of many times the difference in “price.”
This is not an isolated comparison but applies in every case where the product is measured in definite terms. For example, suppose you have a cow which gives twenty quarts of milk having a high butter test and your neighbor one which produces but half this quantity having a lower test. It wouldn’t take you long to decide that your cow, even at double the price of your neighbor’s would be the more profitable.
It’s quite true that you can obtain plants from various sources, often at prices much lower than we can possibly quote. Kellogg Pedigree Plants however are not grown to meet such competition. They are produced just as good as human understanding of science will permit. As explained on [Pages 11] to [15] inclusive, everything necessary in the way of plant food, moisture, cultivation, also protection against insects and disease, is furnished just when and as required to insure the most healthy, vigorous growth and development both of plant and fruit systems.
We never make up our price-list until late in the fall when all requirements have been fully supplied and the plants have snuggled down for their winter nap. Prices then are based on the size of the crop, cost of producing, plus the small profit to which we are entitled.
If you grow or intend growing strawberries either to supply your own home or for profit, remember; the use of ground, cost of labor, fertilizers, etc., is the same whether you set plants of unknown fruiting qualities or Kellogg Pedigree Plants which are absolutely dependable for crops and profits. The strain of plants you set is a big factor in determining your results at the close of the fruiting season.