Evening star., 1900-08-18
Investigation Made by the United
States Government.
PROGRESS IN GROWING AND SELLING
First Sale of Seeds in This Country
in 1903,
RECORD OF RECENT YEARS

The wonderful development which has
been made in this country during the past
few years in every line Of enterprise is no.
where better illustrated than by an investi-
CATION recently completed under the
spices Of the United States government by
Mr.. A. J. Pieters of the division Of botany,
Department Of Agriculture Mr.. Pieters'
examinations were to ascertain facts about
seed selling. seed growing and seed test
ing, Of which the public are up to this time
unaware.
The many things learned by Mr.. Pieters
led him to conclude that the development Of
the seed business of the country forms one
of the most interesting chapters in Amer
lean horticulture, and that from small be-
ginnings in the later colonial periods the
business has grown so that today its value
is measured by millions of dollars.
At first the business was carried on In
small Shops where few boxes of seeds
shared a corner with Goldfish or a shelf with
calicos and books but the time has arrived.
says Mr.. PieterS, when 1t claims for itself
immense warehouses and business estab-
lishments whose interests extend to every
quarter of the globe. The trade has grown
with the country, and its leaders have in
f1uenced popular taste for good vegetables
and fine flowers, creating and stimulating
demand which only their enterprise could
suffice to meet.
Record of First Sale.
The first sale of seeds in this country, SO
far as is known was made at Newport, r.
l., in 1853, by Nathaniel Bird. book deal
er, and the assortment was limited to that
Of onions, recently imported from London.
In New York city hemp and flax seed were
advertised for sale as early as 1165, and
garden seeds in 1915. But Boston was the
chief city for the sale of garden seeds. as it
was the commercial center at that time. In
the Boston Gazette of 1867, six out of twen-
ty-siX advertisers were dealers in seeds.
Some of these did not advertise other
goods. but 1t is doubtful whether they
were seed dealers exclusively Will
liam Davidson. the gardener in Seven
Star lane, offered in 1I6S seeds Of fif-
tysix varieties of vegetables and herbs
and of one flower, the carnation. Some of
his prices We're as follows: Lettuce, ) to
pence per ounce; cabbage, pence to
shilling per ounce; caulitiower. 3 shillings
per ounce; carnation, 4 shillngs per ounce.
Most Of the other vegetable and herb seeds
ranged from 2 pence to shilling per ounce;
peas. Early Golden Hotspur and Early
Charlton, were worth ~ shillings the
bushel. or 10 pence per quart. Davidson
dealt in seeds wholesale and retail for cash.
The war for Independence, interrupting,.
as it did, the regular channels of trade, inv
terfered with the Importation of seeds, and
the few garden seeds offered during this
time Were either imported from Holland
We're taken from prize ships Immediately
after the war there was a revival of the
trade in seeds, and in 17S4 John Adams,
Susanna Renkin and Susanna Martin all
advertised seeds just imported from Lon
don.
One of the first seedsmen of the present
century was Bernard Mcmahon. gardener.
scotsman and author, who, in 1900, opened
seed store in Philadelphia. a description
Of his store, which has been preserved,
throws light on the condition of the trade
a = fnl C ora
was in ID street, below Market, on the east
side. Many must still be alive who recol-
lect Its bulb window, ornamented with tu-
lip glasses a large pumpkin and basket
or two CT bulbous roots.
Efficient Saleswoman.
Behind the counter officiated Mrs. Nc
Mahon, with some considerable Irish ac-
cent, but most amiable and excellent dis
position, and withal an able saeswoman.
Mr.. Mcmahon was also much in the store.
either putting up seeds for transmission to
all parts Of this country and Europe, writ
ing his book attending to his corre-
spondence; and in one corner was shelf
containing a few botanical or gardening
books, for which there was then a very
small demand: another contained a few
garden implements, such as knives and
trimming scissors. a barrel of peas and a
bag OF seeding potatoes, onion recepta-
Gle and few chairs, and the room, partly
lined with drawers containing seeds.
Stttuted the apparent stock in trade of
what was one of the greatest seed stores
then known In the Union, and where was
transacted a considerable business for that
day"
In the fall of 1909 Grant Thorburn began
TO sell seeds in New York, and subsequently
built up substantial business. During the
next quarter of a century seed stores were
opened in Baltimore. Boston and Charles
ton, s C.. as well as in Philadelphia and
N.SyIr rt
trade in Shakers seeds. These Shakers
seeds We're popular as early 1918. They
were sold by regular dealers. and were
peddled about the country in the Shakers
wagons. The population of the United
States had increased from little more than
three millions of whites in 1890 to ten and
a half millions in 1870 While most of the
trade between 1S2u and 1880 local or
wholesale to country dealers, a change took
place with the advent of the locomotive
The larger houses reached out for wider
he!ds; made accessible by railways. and
new firms sprang up in every city of con-
siderable size. The rapid increase in rail-
ways not only opened up vast and -four
isning country, but facilitated transporta-
ton in the east and made possible the i'm
mense development of the mail trade
Thirty years ago one hundred letters a
day was considered a large business. To-
day some houses receive over six thousand
letters a day during the busy season Firms
that twenty years ago employed only one
or two clerks now employ a hundred dur
iilS tile "lHter mOUlnS. throughout the
west the seed business has fiourished and
there is house in Wisconsin whose trade
has increased 800 per cent in the past fif-
teen years. single warehouse of one
western firm now has between seven and
eight acres of floor space.
But Three Seed Farms
Before the beginning of the century only
three seed farms had been established in
the United States. though for many years
seeds were grown by farmers and market
gardeners. The present development of
garden seeds began when David Landreth
established small seed farm at Philadel-
phia in 1874. At first hut q, few acres were
cultivated, and these weregmostly occupied
by the nursery. As the business grew more
land was added. until ip 1860 some 800 acres
were under cultivation near Philadelphia
alone. The Clairmonps seed gardens near
Baltimore. Md. supplied some of the deal
ers , of that city aboqf lsS4 and probably
The opening Of the sscivil war found the
country still largely aepeHaent upon i'm
ported garden seeds. The Heavy taxes and
| the premium on gold raised the prices of all
| imported seeds to such an extent that the
dealers began to look anxious.y for a home