18 FRITZ BAHft'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



Fig. 1. A RETAIL GROWER'S ESTABLISHMENT OF YESTERDAY. The store of 

 Patten & Co., Lowell, Mass., as it looked between 1876 and 1887. This and the 

 photo below were lent by G. Thommen, Somerville, Mass., who worked for this 

 concern when he first came to the United States from Europe 



Fig. 2. AN OLDTIME RANGE OF GLASS. The Patten greenhouses started in 

 1870, grew a general collection of stock for retail trade, especially bedding plants 

 and a large collection of Azaleas and Camellias. A Rose house (one of the few 

 then in New England) and the two Hitchings "saddleback" hard coal boilers 

 were interesting features 



