E.W.TOWNSEND, SALISBURY, MARYLAND 
The Home of the Townsend Nursery, From a 
Small Beginning in 1900, Now One of 
the Largest in the World 
A little less than thirteen years ago I packed and shipped my first crate of Strawberry 
plants. They were shipped under the name of E. W. Townsend & Co. The 20th Cen- 
tury dawn had not made its appearance at this date. The few plants that were grown 
and shipped by me in the beginning were grown and shipped by the same methods as all 
other plant growers were using at that time. At this time I was general manager of one 
of the largest Berry Growers’ Companies in the Eastern states. I had the pleasure for 
several years of unpacking plants from nearly all of the leading plant nurseries in the 
United States, and the pleasure of testing hundreds of varieties that were being tried 
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Home of E. W. Townsend. 
out by this Company, in order to secure the best varieties for our use. I took up the 
plant business as a side line under my own management. My office was flooded each 
ear with almost every strawberry catalog that was printed in the country. I read and 
reread them all. There was only one in the bunch that came to me each year that 
dppealed to me. This one had the tone of the 20th Century ideas, and seemed to bear on 
my mind as the only one that a fellow could follow, and in fact had many of my own 
ideas incorporated. -I prepared the soil as this book advised; I ordered plants from this 
firm; I watched*the difference year after year; I read and reread their annual book; I 
practiced their methods. I was not long in learning a great deal more about plant life 
than I had ever known before. 
It had been the custom with our firm each year to dig our supply of plants from 
the middle of the row and let the beds stand for fruiting purposes. This method was 
practiced year after year, with no thought of plant selection—anything was set out in the 
fields just so it was a plant. 
OUR stock would soon run down, the yield would become lighter each season. It 
was a byword in every community that certain varieties were not holding up as to pro- 
ductiveness as they did when first introduced, etc. 
THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY IDEAS 
My first trial with plants of selected stock proved to me that it was a success from 
the start. I went into the work with all my heart and soul, mind and strength; deter- 
mined to see even a greater improvement in plant life. I studied the habits of the straw- 
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