were removed to a square of ground upon 35th Street below Haverford 

 Avenue ; they consisted of six sniall Greenhouses heated by flues. The 

 demand for building lots in the course of time necessitated the vacation of 

 this plant, and in 1873 the houses were removed to the present site at 

 Riverton, N. J., which was chosen as the permanent location of the 

 business in 1868. 



The Riverton Seed and 

 THE ESTABLISHMENT AT RIVERTON. Plant Farm covers one 



hundred acres. The dis- 

 tance from the City is but nine miles by either rail or steamboat. Several 

 years before the removal from West Philadelphia to Riverton, Mr. Henry 



A. Dreer had built there, under the 

 supervision of Mr. C. P. Hayes, a three 

 story stone packing house, protected 

 upon the north-west, and a range of 

 eight glass houses, each having dimen- 

 sions of eleven by one hundred feet. 

 To this area of eight thousand eight 

 hundred feet of glass surface were 

 added the eleven thousand and two 

 hundred feet brought from the former 

 nursery in 1873. 



Since 1886 an in- 

 SOME LARGE crease of one hun- 

 FIGURES. dred and eighty 



thousand feet of 

 glass has been added, giving a total 

 of over two hundred thousand square 

 feet, or five acres, with two acres in 

 addition covered by packing sheds, 

 cold storage and lath houses. The 

 heating of the Greenhouses is derived 

 from twelve boilers, having a capacity 

 of seventy-five hundred horse-power, 

 both steam and hot water being used. The consumption of coal in 

 a winter season amounts to about two thousand tons. Over sixteen 

 miles of pipes are used in radiating the steam and hot water. The 

 lumber used in box-making amounts to over one hundred and fifty 

 thousand feet annually, many second-hand boxes and baskets also being 

 used. The steam Saw-Mill is almost constantly busy, and two carpenters 

 are-kept at work through the year making packing boxes. Considerably 

 more than half a million pots are bought in a year, to which may be added 

 a large proportion of those repeatedly used. 



In 1873 the stock consisted mainly of Bedding Plants, such as Ver- 

 benas, Geraniums, Petunias and Roses, with some trees and shrubbery. 

 About fifteen years ago a start was made with Palms and Ferns, about a 



