O new enGLflrms seeo House 
Jince 1865 
WHAT’S IN A NAME? 
Let’ S start at the beginning in answering this question for 
you. 
In 1865 when “covered wagons” pulled by four-horse teams 
brought produce from miles around into Boston, Thomas W. 
Emerson and his brother, Charles, started a business of selling 
field seeds to farm supply dealers throughout NEW ENGLAND. 
Born in Salem, New Hampshire, they had served their 
business apprenticeships in and around Boston. Tom Emerson, 
the more active of the two, became prominent as a business man 
and property owner. It was from him that land was purchased 
to build the present Boston Public Library. 
In the summer of 1887, however, a new face made its 
appearance in the business picture, when Oscar H. Dodds, then 
in his early twenties, (and with the customary silk hat worn by 
salesmen of that time), stepped off the train from Minneapolis, 
Minn. A Vermonter by birth, Dodds had come back East for 
his concern to help the Emersons sell a line of garden seeds that 
they were introducing to their trade for the first time. So 
successful was this young man in performing his mission that 
the Emersons made him a permanent representative of the 
company and he built up for them a host of customers and 
friends throughout the territory. 
The Emersons were known amongst the trade as men of 
unusual honesty and business acumen. Their word was a con¬ 
tract and such business ethics have been enhanced since their 
retirement. 
Today the company is owned and operated by that Ver¬ 
monter who has played such a large part in its progress. 
The name thus symbolizes long and successful experience 
in the seed business. It identifies the best in Garden, Field, and 
Grass Seeds and enables you, as a purchaser, to buy anything 
bearing the Emerson label with the utmost confidence. 
Page Three 
