[quote=Cornflower;182810]Fascinating. I suppose SSE has records of this sort of thing; maybe when winter comes and I have no more gardening chores I'll write to ask.
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I suppose they do have records but is it really that important for you to know if the one they offer is Sparks or otherwise as long as it's Earliana. Now I know that sounds perhaps a bit, well, I don't know, but I agree with Craig completely that growing some of the earliest of the varieties from the time span he mentioned, which I've also done, is more of an historical pursuit rather than a taste or performance pursuit.
If earliness is important to you there are many earlies that do have good taste and perform well.