14 
EIGHTY YEARS OF GROWING 
THE COMMISSION PACKET SEED BUSINESS 
OF FERRY-MORSE SEED CO. 
B UT few business concerns have the interesting history which is that of the Ferry-Morse 
commission packet business. Beginning with about five hundred assortments, in 1856, 
the company pushed out rapidly into a constantly widening range of territory. As 
people migrated west and new 
towns sprang up, the Ferry sales- PRESIDENT, D. M. FERRY & CO., 1907-1925 
men followed. They traveled under 
difficulties—trains some of the time, 
teams of horses much of the time, 
on horseback often. They forded 
streams, walked long distances, 
went into sections where their 
visits were an event, slept where 
they could. Some of them went into 
boom mining towns, saw Indian 
raids and battles with outlaws. 
Many who traveled the same terri¬ 
tory for years saw sections which 
had been barren waste transformed 
into well-ordered garden plots. 
Today, one hundred and fifty 
Ferry-Morse salesmen travel ap¬ 
proximately two million miles an¬ 
nually in automobiles, but some of 
them still have to use the old meth¬ 
ods of locomotion occasionally. 
The first packets sent out 
were crude affairs; the larger pack¬ 
ages of peas, beans, and corn 
were tied with string; displays 
were rough wooden boxes. Today, 
packets and cartons are beauti¬ 
fully illustrated. They are packed 
in attractive red-and-silver dis¬ 
plays—modern, colorful, sanitary, 
a desirable addition to the most 
modern store. 
LEM W. BOWEN 
CO-INCORPORATORS WITH D. M. FERRY 
OF D. M. FERRY & CO. 
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