Why? 



f51 HERE are reasons -why sensible people should buy their seeds of JOHNSON 

 f & Stokes. More than one hundred thoTisand such people have found 

 ^ by experience -what these reasons are ; but many thousands of ne^w cus- 

 tomers, -who are seeking such a house, ought to kno"wr, too. 



Growing seeds of the right sort is a difiBcult business. It requires rare 

 facilities and experience just to grow good seeds. But "we undertake more 

 than this. The best sort of a seed business must be carried on doubly, so 

 to speak, — it must gro^w plants, and it must grow seeds. It mxist grow the 

 plants first, to find out ■whether the seeds of those plants are "worth growing. 



Few seed houses will take the trouble to do this. "We make it a chief 

 feature of our business. "What we do is not merely to grow^ seeds : it is to grow 

 the right seeds, from tested stocks. Our customers get not merely seeds that 

 will grow : they get seeds that it will pay them to grow. 



We are constantly working at the problem of what to plant, and -what 

 not to plant. "We have a perfect system of trials and seed tests. Our business 

 is not with unsophisticated amateurs and fancy farmers : it is chiefly -with 

 experienced planters and market gardeners, who cultivate for profit. Their 

 requirements are exacting. They demand not only seeds that will grow, but 

 seeds that will pay. We must furnish them. We do furnish them.. 



Attentive readers of otir MATTTJATi will notice two peculiarities: first, it omits 

 much that other lists contain ; second, it contains much that other lists omit. 

 We give you cream, only. Our extended trials and experience enable us to weed 

 out many varieties that are unw^orthy of cultivation ; and they also enable us 

 to introduce tested novelties and specialties of great value, many of which can 

 be had only of us. 0\ir customers have thus a double advantage. 



Our Great Double Seed Warehouses, the largest in the Bast, are arranged 

 expressly for the seed business. 



Every letter and order has our personal attention, being read by one of 

 our firm. 



Our force of employees have most of them devoted a lifetime to the business. 

 Like our Seeds, they are TESTED. 



Our prices are always as low^ as those of any reliable house; but never 

 too low^ to pay for the best seeds that it is possible to produce. 



We w^ant YOUR custom. 



Respectfully, 



JOHNSON & STOKES. 



217 AND 219 MARKET ST. 

 206 AND 208 CHURCH ST. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



.^ 



s> 



COPYEIGHT, 1891, BY JOHNSON & STOKES. 



