SEEDS, PLANTS, BULBS, ETC.- 
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“AMERICAN 
SpFARMERS' 
F ...MANUAL.” 
>4 COMPLETE CATALOGUE 
Illustrating and describing Standard vA 
Old and Improved New Varieties of ^ 
Grasses, Grains, Hoot Crops, etc. 
^ EVERY PROGRESSIVE FARMER 
fex OR BREEDER 
should send for it. y/^^5)VV 
^leaning] 
utiNGORDE^J 
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XPEA SORTING 
tymH ROOM 55 
# P£TER HENDERSON ^CQ5 5ale5Roo / v 1 s 
CORTLAMDTSl, 
STORES^ 
A Glimpse Here and There Through “ A Great Seed House ” 
(CONTINUED). 
The list of vegetable seeds represents in all about 1 
3,4C0 tests. . . . 
Agricultural seeds represent 200 tests, embracing 
clovers, grasses, mangels and other root crops, besides 
an endless variety of forage plants. A special feature 
in the trial grounds is the grass tests, which are nearly 
all permanent, several acres of land being set apart for 
this purpose, these being divided into eighth and six¬ 
teenth parts of an acre. When cut, the grass is properly 
weighed and the yield per acre averaged. 
Flower seeds in such an establishment play no small 
part. The number of tests in this one branch alone for 
this season was 1,070, and among these many new and 
rare varieties were proved. 
Strawberries come in for an important share of atten¬ 
tion, the tests numbering 250, one of the most exhaus¬ 
tive trials ever made with the strawberry, and included 
a number of imported varieties. . . . 
Seed Testing for Germination. 
One of the most important factors in the success of 
Peter Henderson & Co. has been their system of testing 
the germination and quality of seeds before selling 
them ; in fact, they were the first seed house in the 
United States to carry this out on any systematic or ex¬ 
tended plan. Their extensive greenhouses give them 
peculiar facilities for doiug this, having over four acres 
of greenhouse structures in which all degrees of tem¬ 
perature are maintained, thus enabling them to have 
at anytime the precise conditions required foranything 
they wish to test. 
The New York Store, (’ortlandt Street* 
From here both the wholesale and retail business is 
transacted. Here are also situated the counting-house 
and all the clerical and lay departments. The building 
itself consists of six stories, with two cellars below, the 
dimensions being 5L x 125 feet. This will give our 
readers some idea of the size and volume of business, 
and from the fact that during the busy season over two 
hundred hands are employed, its magnitude will bo 
better understood. Each floor is a perfect organization 
in itself, and the vast business seems to be transacted 
without the least pretense to bustle or excitement. The 
contents and arrangements of each floor, together with 
the method of handling each department, would supply 
ample copy for a long article in itself. . . . 
The Seed Warehouses. 
These are located at Garfield Avenue, Jersey City, in 
close proximity to the huge block of greenhouses and 
plant trial grounds, also owned and operated by this 
firm in carrying on their great plant trade. Two yeai*s 
ago it was found necessary to increase the warehouse 
capacity, which at that time was a three-story building, 
with cellar, 60x100 feet. The new building is exactly 
the same size, viz., 60 x 100 feet. Each cellar is capable 
of holding 4,000 barrels of potatoes, which, during their 
season, fill up the whole space. The first floors are 
used for receiving shipments as they come in, and hero 
they are arranged for their order of cleaning, etc. The 
second floors are used for similar purposes, and the 
third set of floors deals with the finished article. 
In a short description like this it is impossible to con¬ 
vey to the minds of our readers any adequate idea of 
the businessdoneor the size of the bulks handled. . . . 
The boiler-room is located between the two buildings, 
and from such a point of vantage it is easy to operate 
the different freight elevators, seed-cleaning machines, 
etc., and for this purpose a 30-liorse-power boiler and a 
25 horse-power engine is used, On the top floor we find, 
perhaps, one of the most interesting features of the 
whole establishment. 
The Seed ('leaning Mills. 
For, while the great bulk of all the seeds handled by 
this firm are well cleaned when received, yet so particu¬ 
lar are they, and so exacting are the requirements of 
their trade, that nearly everything is put through their 
own mills before being sold. The mills are of the most 
approved styles, and it is something marvelous the work 
that they will do. All the mills were under full blast 
and discharging from their various spouts, in some in¬ 
stances peas, and in others some of the finer varieties 
of grass seeds. In these days of keen competition, the 
best equipped establishments forge to the front, and it 
certainly seems to us that it would be impossible to im¬ 
prove on the methods and machinery used by this firm. 
In one section of the warehouse was a room occupied 
by fifteen or twenty girls, who were engaged in picking 
defective specimens from the peas which had not been 
taken out by the mills. A little later on double the 
number will be employed at this same work. . . . 
