No. 151.] 109 



us, that in the year 1S02 " the ladies of New-York were beginning 

 to show their taste for flowers;" and still farther, to quote his lan- 

 guao^e, "In the month of April, 1S03, 1 observed a man for the first 

 time selling flower plants in the Fly Market, which then stood at the 

 foot of Maiden-Lane. As I carelessly passed along, I took a leaf, 

 and rubbing it between my fingers and thumb, asked him what was 

 the name of it; he answered, a geranium. I looked a few minutes 

 at the plant, thought it had a pleasant smell, and would look well if 

 removed into one of my green flower-pots to stand on my counter to 

 draw attention. Next day some one fancied, and purchased plant 

 and pot. I went the following day, when the market was nearly 

 over, judging the man would sell cheaper, rather than have the trou- 

 ble of carrying them over the river, as he lived at Brooklyn, and in 

 those days there were neither steam nor horse boats* Accordingly, I 

 purchased two plants, and having sold them, I began to think that 

 something might be done in this way; so I continued to go at the 

 close of the market, and always bargained for the unsold plants. 

 The man finding me a useful customer, would assist me to carry 

 them home, and show me how to shift the plants out of his pots and 

 put them into green pots, if my customers wished it. The thing be- 

 ing a novelty, began to draw attention; people accompanying their 

 country friends to see the curiosities of the city, would step in to 

 view ray plants. In these visits the strangers would express a wish 

 to have some seed; but here lay the dithculty, as no one sold seed in 

 New -York; not one of the farmers or gardeners saved more than 

 what they wanted for their own use, there being no market for an 

 overplus, In this dilemma, I told my situation to the man from 

 whom I had always bought the plants in the Fly Market. He said 

 he was then raising seeds with the intention of selling them with his 

 plants in the market; but if I would take his seed, he would quit 

 the market and stay at home to raise plants and seeds for me to sell 

 in my store. A bargain was struck, I purchased his stock of seed, 

 amounting to fifteen dollars, and thus commenced a business on the 

 17th of September, 1805, that has been the most extensive of the 

 sort in the United States." 



Mr. Wm. Phelan raised plants for Mr. Grant Thorburn on Bishop 

 Moore's estate, bounded by twenty-first and twenty-fourth-streets, and 

 eighth and ninth avenues. I am here constrained to observe, that 

 the reputation of Mr. P. as a skilful gardener stands justly high. He 



*In 1809, Robert Fulton received a charter from the corporation to run a steant- 

 boat between New- York and Brookl3-n, (Fulton ferry.) Horse-boats were, however, 

 used on other ferries within the last twenty years. 



