

YOL. 28. 



JUN"E, 18T3. 



I^O. 324. 



A Prussian Seed Farm. 



By tTosiith Uoopes, in " Christinn Union," 



AN admirable feature in the commercial gardens of Europe is the clustering of 

 "specialties" in the exact spot where each is the most certain to succeed. In 

 fact, years of constant trial have so fully decided this question, that now one always 

 goes to Haarlem to see hyacinths, tulips, and crocuses ; to Orleans, France, for young 

 nursery seedlings ; to the suburbs of Paris for gladiolus and roses ; to Ghent for 

 hardy azaleas and many kinds of succulent plants; to the suburbs of London for gera- 

 niums and florist's flowers, as well as for rhododendrons ; to Edinburgh for seedling 

 evergreens ; to York, England, for ferns and alpines, and to Erfurt, Prussia, for 

 flower seeds. Of all the many beautiful sights which gratified me whilst studying 

 European horticulture, none gave me more real pleasure than did a visit to the last 

 named locality. Although there are several distinct business firms at Erfurt, I was 

 so much pleased with the exceeding neatness and perfect order displayed in every 

 department of the grounds of Ernest Benary's celebrated establishment, that I have 

 selected it as the " text " for my present paper. 



The extent of the seed trade in and around Erfurt is perfectly enormous, hun- 

 dreds of acres being devoted to the business, and hundreds of hands used during the 

 various processes of growing and collecting. 



They speak there of shipping flower seeds, not only by the hundred-weight, but by 

 the ton ; think of that, my rural readers, when you purchase your tiny paper of mig- 

 nonette and aster ; it is but a drop in the bucket. Many firms in the vicinity are 

 shippers on their own account, but the large majority of the growers contract with the 

 few leading firms to supply them with specialties — one raising balsams and asters, 

 another verbenas and pansies, and a third, pei-haps. hollyhocks, carnations, etc. Occa- 

 sionally a leading seed house will have his Ten Weeks' Stock or asters grown by sev- 

 eral parties, so that failures may be avoided, and sometimes particular growers inva- 

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