!l850^Ss.SlXTYyEARS AMONG ThE RoSES^P^^ 



Residence of Charles Dingee, founder of the Company 



The Home of Dingee Roses 



West Grove, Pa., "Independent" 



"Home of the Rose. Sketch of The Dingee & Conard Co., Pioneer Rose-Growers of America. 

 Has made West Grove famous. The original wellspring that brings joy to hundreds of thousands of 

 flower-lovers. Over half a century's honorable record. 



"Where the broad, beautiful ribbon of stoned road tops the Dingee hill, a half-mile south of 

 West Grove, arise to the left a veritable city of glass, its area of shimmering roofs hem.med in by 

 a massive hedge of Arborvitse a half-century old. To the left of the road that passes through the 

 estate, arise i:he big, roomy, modern offices — opposite the stables, and to the left and rear the 

 glazed roofs of seventy odd greenhouses, standing 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 propa- 

 gating 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. Headly, 

 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 

 accompanying. 



"At once is applied a system of checking, marking 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 supervise and oversee, institute inquiries, make contracts, 

 purchase supplies and generally fmance 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 guided thi scribe through his labyrinth of 



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