^g HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



SEED GROWING, 

 S. D. WOODRUFF & SONS, ORANGE, CONN, 



Seed growers and dealers. Also dealers in agricultural implements, fertiliz- 

 ers, etc. 



The seed-growing industry of New Haven county, Con- 

 necticut, was established about 1825 by Benjamin Hodge of 

 Derby, and Sherman Stone, who lived on the Derby Turn- 

 pike in Orange. Mr. Stone had a seed garden of about eight 

 acres, surrounded by a stone wall eight feet high ; part of this 

 wall still remains in perfect condition. Dan Fenn of Milford 

 was prominent in the seed trade fifty years ago. From the 

 example of the above-named pioneers in seed growing there 

 has sprung up a large number of farmers who make the pro- 

 ducing of garden seeds of various kinds their chief money 

 crop. Prominent among these is the well-known firm of S. 

 D. Woodruff & Sons of Orange, Conn. This house was es- 

 tablished in 1865 by Mr. S. D. Woodruff, who devoted his 

 energy to producing special select stocks of seed for the 

 wholesale seed dealers throughout the country. In 1891, the 

 business having by this time become enlarged, Mr. Woodruff 

 associated with himself his two sons, Frank C. Woodruff and 

 Watson S. Woodruff, and the firm issued, in 1892, a retail 

 seed catalogue. Each year since 1892 an issue in enlarged 

 form has been mailed to thousands of customers in all parts 

 of the country. These catalogues are ready each January, 

 and are sent free to all who write for a copy. 



As the demand for all kinds of seeds has very greatly in- 

 creased for the past few years, Messrs. Woodruff have in- 

 creased the acreage of their plant until they now have four 

 farms devoted to the culture of seeds. The business gives 

 employment to twenty-five people all the year around. 

 Prominent among the seeds produced by this firm are : car- 

 rot, onion, parsnip, beet, turnip, tomato, squash, cucumber, 

 seed potatoes, onion sets, and sweet and field corn seeds. 

 Attention is directed to a photograph, reproduced here, taken 



