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Now we take garden catalogs for granted. Yet there was a time when they weren't around. Before catalogs, people saved their own seeds from one year to the next. And they bought some seeds at general stores in colonial times. I remember seeing a reprint of an ad from a newspaper in Virginia published in the 1700-1800's saying a ship had arrived with a shipment of seeds. The ad listed the various seeds for sale.
Apparently the earliest seed catalog was that of Bernard McMahon in the late 1700's. It didn't resemble modern catalogs, but was really a poster containing a list of seeds. An Irish immigrant, he sold plants and seeds in Philadelphia. From the Lewis and Clark Expedition McMahon got some grape holly (Mahonia) plants, which were named for him. He sold these plants for $20 each, which would have been quite a bit of money then. John Bartram, also of Philadelphia, printed a simple list of the seeds he sold. After his death, William-his son took over the business. The D. Landreth Seed Company has earned the right to call itself America's oldest seed company. It was established in 1784. Nowadays we're used to buying seeds in packs. But they weren't always sold that way. The Shakers introduced seed packages in the 1830's. They referred to this as a "paper" of seeds. Originally they sold packs for around six cents, or twenty for a dollar. The Shakers raised their own seeds. They had communities throughout America. Their seeds were delivered to stores. One store in New York City sold their seeds. Everyone probably knows the W. Atlee Burpee is one of the oldest seed companies in America. It has mailed out catalogs since 1876. In November 2001, the president announced the company was close to bankruptcy. Following that, the company was bought out by someone else, and is still in business. A similar problem occurred with Stark Brothers. This was one of America's oldest fruit nurseries. Early in 2001, Stark Brothers announced it was having problems. Later, it was bought by Gardens Alive. The Ferry-Morse Seed Company deserves mention even though their seeds are sold only through retail stores. Established in 1856, the firm decided to concentrate on retail sales rather than market them directly to home gardeners. A couple years ago Ferry-Morse did have a home gardening newsletter, but they seem to have discontinued that as well. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Historical Mail-Order Nurseries in Fruit Gardens is owned by Connie Krochmal. Permission to republish Historical Mail-Order Nurseries in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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