The Dingee & Conard Company Greenhouses and Packing Sheds 



The Home of Dingee Roses 



From the West Grove, Pa., "Independent" 



"^yrHERE the broad, beautiful ribbon of 

 y^ stoned road tops the Dingee hill, a half-mile 

 south of West Grove, arises to the left a veri- 

 table city of glass, its area of shimmering roofs 

 hemmed in by -a massive hedge of Arborvitae a 

 half-century old. To the left of the road that passes 

 through the estate, arise the big, roomy, modern 

 offices — opposite, the stables and to the left and rear 

 the glazed roofs of seventy odd greenhouses, stand- 

 ing rank by rank like a battalion on parade. 

 Between these ranks and down the whole length 

 of the columns of glass stand the big packing and 

 propagating sheds, all in the pink and neatness of 

 perfection. 



"If you happened along that $6,000-per-mile 

 road any morning about 9.30 o'clock, you would 

 witness the Rural Free Delivery carrier making 

 haste up the hill, surrounded by mail bags, one of 

 which, and a very heavy one, bears the label 'D. & 

 C The bag is taken in charge by James D. Headley, 

 the cashier, and the letters, in bundles of sixty, 

 assorted and opened in the front office. They come 

 in hundreds and thousands from every part of the 

 United States, Canada, Mexico, Philippines, Cuba 

 and European countries. Ninety per cent of them 

 bear orders for live Rose plants, with cash accom- 

 panying. 



'*At once is applied a system of checking, mark- 

 ing up and filing of orders so thorough and exact 

 that ten years later every order can be laid hands 

 on at a moment's notice. In the private office sits 

 P. J. Lynch, the treasurer. His duties are to super- 

 vise and oversee, institute inquiries, make contracts, 

 purchase supplies and generally finance the concern, 

 requiring a heavy correspondence. M. Henry Lynch, 

 the vice-president, has charge of the big inner office, 

 where a score or more of nimble-fingered girls attend 

 to the details of marking up and dispatching the 

 avalanche of business. 



" 'By actual count, we have close to one million 

 growing plants now under glass,' said Edwin Parker, 

 the superintendent and head propagator, as he 

 g\iided the scribe through his labyrinth of green- 

 houses, all as neat as wax. Every inch of bench 

 space was taken up by thrifty plants, chiefly 

 Roses, all growing on their own roots, and reflect- 

 ing that \dgorous green that comes only of perfect 



plant health. 'We have in stock not less than a^ 

 thousand varieties of Roses alone,' continued Mr. 

 Parker, 'and are constantly adding more. Many of 

 the best standard varieties originated and were 

 introduced by us, such as Helen Gould, Mrs. Robert 

 Peary, Golden Gate, Marion Dingee, Virginia, 

 Henry M. Stanley, and others; but our greatest 

 triumph is Charles Dingee, the most beautiful and 

 best of all garden Roses.' (Tliis variety originated 

 with Mr. Parker.) Mr. Parker added, "We are 

 always looking out for and propagating new varie- 

 ties, for fashions change in Roses as they do in 

 everything else.' Down the center of one of the 

 big packing sheds, half a dozen men were busily 

 cutting up Rose branches into three-inch pieces. 

 This is how it looked, but closer inspection showed 

 each cutting carefully clipped at an angle just 

 below the 'joint' of the parent stem. Off to a 

 specially constructed propagating greenhouse were 

 the cuttings carried, where, in long, spotlessly 

 clean white beds of moist river sand they were 

 inserted by the chief propagator, who, by the way, 

 can plant 10,000 cuttings a day. 



"With the flood of mail orders that begins in 

 February, ruthless hands begin to strip the houses 

 and cast aside the pretty blooms that appear. So 

 it seemed to the scribe. In the principal or main 

 packing shed, scores of busy hands assemble the 

 plants, which, when removed from their pots, 

 wrapped in damp moss, labeled and packed in 

 neat mail and express packages, are ready for 

 dispatching to the host of distant, waiting custom- 

 ers. As an evidence of the amount of business done, 

 it is known for this firm to have sent by mail alone 

 over a ton per day. 



"It is a business of infinite pains, infinite care 

 and vigilance. The temperature, moisture and 

 infection must be ever watched, night and day, 

 year in and year out. A careless fireman can lose 

 $10,000 worth of stock in one night. Carelessness, 

 leading to dirt and infection, may lose a whole 

 year's business. It is the pride of the chief fireman 

 to know that the seventy great steam-heated 

 houses do not vary two degrees during even zero 

 weather. The Dingee & Conard Co. were the 

 originators of sending Roses by mail, and through 

 energy and honorable dealing have made them- 



