STOKES SEED FARMS COMPANY 



MOORESTOWN 



NEW JERSEY 



Forty-two Years in Retrospect 



"The Old Guard Dies But Never Surrenders" 



B 



E well assured, gentle reader, that although time's changes bring new names 

 and new personalities into our endeavors as seedsmen, we are not forgetting 

 the splendid past and the traditions we inherit. The quarter century of 

 seed history as left us by Johnson & Stokes, our honored forbears, covers perhaps 

 the most interesting period of the development of the industry in this country. 

 They were days when the rapid introduction of European varieties and the develop- 

 ment and introduction of American varieties were at their height. Agriculture in 

 America was still new. Planters were ready and anxious to try out anything that 

 was offered. Offerings were perhaps too frequently made without thorough 

 knowledge as to adaptability or before types were fixed. Descriptions were fre- 

 quently very general and unscientific. There was much re-naming of old varieties. 

 But Avith it all there was a liberality of spirit, a friendly competition in each new 

 adventure, and a warm personal -contact that is rarely found in these days of 

 strife and strikes. 



Certain well -remembered pictures in the J. and S. Farm and Garden Manuals 

 in the early eighties and nineties are well within the range of abiding memory. It 

 is a far call back to the days of Garfield, Harrison and Grover Cleveland. We 

 do not doubt, however, that many of you can recall ordering Kolb's Gem Water- 

 melon from the old woodcut picturing the melon being rushed to market on a 

 locomotive, or King of the Mammoths Pumpkin, which was pictured "still holding 

 the fort," or Flat Dutch Cabbage (forty-eight pounds of it!) more than filling a 

 wheelbarrow. You may even remember a familiar slogan, "Care, Promptness 

 and Reliability," proclaimed on a barmer upheld by two baby angels, (Of course, 

 they are grown up by now.) 



The splendid partnership came to a tragic close by dissolution in 1906, and it 

 was not until nine years later that the two independent factors were again merged as Stokes Seed Farms Company. 

 During the five years we have been here on Windermoor Farm, we have been constantly developing an organization 

 along lines in keeping with the old ideals and with present-day progress. We have cheerfully taken up the work 

 where the Old Guard left it — confident of the future — for back of our every move is that inherited consciousness of 

 right and wrong which carries with it a strong sense of honor and fair play. Our well-remembered masters are gone, 

 but their spirit is all pervading and shall ever be our stoutest convo3^ May this always be apparent to those trading 

 with us, for this is the greatest heritage we have. 



"Old Days! The wild geese are flying, 

 Head to the storm as they faced it before!" — R. K. 



1856 WALTER P. STOKES 1916 



who, together with Herbert W. Johnson, formed 

 the partnership of the old firm 



Andrew McCuen. the oldest living member of the Windermoor family. He holds a record of over fifty years' faithful service in the seed 

 busmess and gives us a vital connection with the old Johnson and Stokes days. This photo<sraph taken 

 last summer, shows Mr. McCuen examining our cabbage trial. ° ' 



