2 PETER HENDERSON & CO —INTRODUCTORY. 



HOW "WE TEST SEEDS. — We think we possess some peculiar advantages as Seedsmen 

 that we wish to tell to those to whom we are not personally known. The senior member of our firm 

 is now and has been for the past thirty years, personally engaged in growing fruits, flowers and 

 vegetables — in short, is a "Practical Gardener" in the most comprehensive sense of the term. Our 

 Florists' or Greenhouse establishment, which he personally superintends, covers nearly three acres, 

 solid in glass, and employs an average of sixty hands throughout the year. These greenhouses, being 

 at all temperatures, give us a certain means of testing the germinating qualities of all our seeds, 

 and no seeds of any importance are ever sold without being subject to the most thorough test. We 

 have also for the past seven years had a piece of ground set apart as an experimental garden, wherein 

 samples of all the leading vegetables and novelties in flowers are tested. The value of this plan can 

 hardly be estimated. Not only does it enable us to judge of what is meritorious in new varieties, but 

 what is far better by this comparative test, to discard all varieties that in our judgment are unworthy 

 of cultivation, by actual experiment under our direct personal superintendence. We cordially invite 

 any one interested in such experiments to call and examine them during the Summer and Fall 

 months. 



OUR GARDENS IN JERSEY CITY are within forty minutes' time, by Ferry Boat 

 and Horse Cars, from our Seed Store, 35 Cortlandt Street, New York, where a card with plain 

 directions of " How to reach the Nursery," will be given to any one applying. 



Parties wishing to see Peter Henderson personally will find him at the Greenhouses till 12 M. , 

 and at his office in New York from 1 to 3 P. M. 



ABOUT WARRANTING SEEDS.— The question is repeatedly asked us, if we guarantee 

 or warrant seeds. We beg to state most emphatically that we do. not, and our employees have strict 

 orders never to do so in any case. Though well believing that the seeds we offer are unsurpassed in 

 quality, yet our practical experience of many years as Market Gardeners and Florists has well assured 

 us of the fact that crops may fail, no matter how fresh or pure the seed sown to produce them may 

 be. Failure of germination of seeds may be produced from causes that the utmost care from the 

 most experienced cultivators cannot control, and the maturing of crops also repeatedly fail, so as to 

 be a total loss, from causes that no human power can avert. Hence, to guarantee seeds to invariably 

 produce a perfect crop would be little short of quackery. 



ABOUT GARDENERS, THEIR WAGES, ETC.— We are constantly having applica- 

 tions for gardeners, from our customers, in sections of the country where none have been previously 

 employed, the applicants usually inquiring of us the rates paid in New York. As a guide to such, 

 and to save us time in replying, we here state that the rates paid in the vicinity of New York now, 

 vary, for single men, from $20 to $40 per month, and board, and for married men, from $30 to $60, 

 with house to live in. The average of the former may be given as $30 per month and board ; of the 

 latter, at $15 per month and house. The grading of prices paid, of course, is in the ratio of ability, 

 or the amount of charge to be taken. In several cases where unusual charge is required, or where a 

 man displays unusual ability, a large advance on these rates is paid. In no occupation is so much 

 injury done as in the garden, greenhouse, or grapery, by changing men. In Horticulture the work 

 done is nearly all prospective, and what the gardener does, or neglects to do to-day, will not probably 

 show for three or six months after ; hence the necessity of keeping the man satisfied in his position, 

 for if not satisfied, and on the alert to move, it is not probable that he will interest himself as much 

 in his work as if he was contented with his place. For this reason we have ever considered it bad 

 policy to displace a good man for a few dollars' advance in salary. We ourselves, with all our oppor- 

 tunities of selecting men, have often paid foremen one-half more than we could have got equally 

 good men for, just to make them entirely satisfied with their position, as we well know that our 

 interests would suffer if they were not so. 



As the labor of placing gardeners and those wishing to engage them in correspondence with 

 each other is entirely gratuitous on our part, employers must state what their arrangements are, and 

 about what wages are paid, and gardeners must state age, nativity, whether married or single, and all 

 particulars, or their letters can receive no attention from us. 



USE OF THE FEET IN SEED SOWING— See article page 6. 



SOWING OF FLOWER SEEDS— See article page 8. 



LOW-PRICED LIST OF PLANTS— See page 12a 



