D. M. FERRY & CO'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



Our Trial Grounds 



on Ferry Avenue, which occupy about ten acres and 

 are beyond question the largest in America. Of the 

 thousands of lots of seed we annually handle, a sam- 

 ple of each must come here for two tests, the first for 

 vitality, to find how many seeds in a hundred will 

 grow, and the second for purity, to find out the 

 character of the vegetables each sample will produce, 

 whether true to name and type or otherwise. It is. 

 the latter test which enables us to detect the worth- 

 lessness of a great many so-called "new and im- 

 proved " sorts or " novelties,' 1 and to prove the merits 

 of the few which are really deserving and ultimately 

 find a place in our list. 



These grounds are in charge of an experienced and 

 competent superintendent, and the work is done in 

 the most thorough and careful manner. Upwards of 

 10,000 tests are annually made. These are not con- 

 fined merely to our own stock, but tests are made as. 

 well of samples of the standard kinds obtained from 

 all the larger seedsmen of this country and Europe, 

 so that we know the quality, not only of the goods 

 we sell, but of those offered by others. Our Trial 

 Grounds have been compared with others the world 

 over, and by competent and disinterested judges have 

 Trial Grounds-Office and Green-House. been awarded first place for size, for the skill and 



care shown in the work, and for consequent reliability of results obtained. And now let us look for a moment at 



Our Central Seed Warehouse. 



This building, erected by us in 1887, covers one-half a city block, extending 300 feet on Brush Street and 120 feet each 

 on Croghan and Champlain Streets. It has six stories, besides a basement, affording between seven and eight acres floor 

 surface. It is as nearly fire proof as possible, being built after the mill construction or slow burning plan, and protected in 

 every part by an effective system of automatic sprinklers, one or more of which would be set going by the heat of an incipi- 

 ent fire and extinguish, or at least hold it in check, till help could arrive. 



Three powerful hydraulic elevators and three stairways provide access to all parts of the building, and a thousand 

 Edison incandescent lamps illuminate it at night. A great deal of thought was expended in the arrangement of the interior, 

 and we have done everything that experience could suggest to make this the most perfect seed house in the world. In 

 addition to this building we annually occupy several others a portion of the year, besides taxing to their utmost the ware- 

 houses on our seed farms. 



Stepping across Brush Street from our Central Seed Warehouse, we enter 



OUR BOX FACTORY. 



This three-story brick building, erected and maintained especially for the manufacture and repair of our boxes, supplies 

 heat and power to our warehouse, and in our busy season keeps 100 men at work with numerous machines designed especi- 

 ally for us. These machines accomplish every kind of mechanical work, from sawing and planing rough lumber to nailing, 

 screwing and sandpapering the finished box. We make annually 35,000 boxes, requiring three-quarters of a million feet of 

 cherry, walnut and pine. Our use of lumber is so extensive that we maintain a lumber yard of our own, where we carry a 

 large stock of the finest grade. 



Our Canadian Branch. 



We also have a separate branch house in Canada for the better accommodation of our large business there. This house is 

 located at Windsor, Ont., and from it we execute promptly all orders in large or small quantities by mail, express or freight, 



D. Wl. Ferry & Ccs Canadian Warehouse. 



without any of the vexatious delays and expensive processes of entering and paying duties. Our stocks are imported 

 directly into Canada, and a duplicate will be found there of nearly everything we sell in the States. The advantage of this 

 move to our Canadian friends cannot be overestimated, as it places them on a par with our patrons in the States. 



Our Seed annual. 



And now just a word about the character of our Annual. As usual it does not abound in highly colored plates, nor in 

 pages densely begrimed with false and flashy illustrations of impossible flowers and vegetables. We do not exhibit leviathan 

 cabbages to be surmounted only by the aid of scaling ladders, nor melons requiring a house mover's outfit to transport them. 

 "Jack and the Bean Stalk " will do for children, but sky-reaching vegetables are scarcely in their proper place in a seed 

 catalogue. Such things may catch the eye, but ought not to inspire confidence, and we believe they cannot do so. The cuts 

 and descriptions in our Annual are designed to convey the most truthful possible conceptions. The cuts are drawn from the 

 living vegetables " to scale," that is, made the same size in relation to each other as the live originals. The descriptions are 

 as truthful as the cuts. In making additions to our list from time to time, it has not been enough for us that such varieties 

 were new, we have aimed to include nothing which is not also of permanent value. In short, we have determined to make 

 our Annual helpful to our customers, first in enabling them to select the varieties best suited to their needs, and second, in 

 helping them to cultivate successfully what they do select, and so continue their patronage with us. 



