44 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
office at Colborne, Ont. under the management of James 
McGlennon & Son. 
When the firm of Chase Brothers first started in this 
city, one clerk, James M. Edwards, was employed. Now 
there are fifty. Handsome offices are provided for the 
firm and its twelve connections, in the Nursery Exchange 
on East Park, this city. 
The members of Chase. Brothers Company are 
directors in the Alabama Nursery Company, at Hunts¬ 
ville, Ala. 
BROWN BROTHERS COMPANY. 
One of the largest nursery firms in the United States 
is Brown Brothers Company, proprietor of the Conti¬ 
nental Nurseries. The name of the nurseries is signifi¬ 
cant, for it is the only company growing stock both in 
Canada and the United States. It has large offices in 
Rochester, Chicago, Toronto and Portland, Ore. 
Charles J. Brown and Robert C. Brown have been in 
the nursery business since boyhood. The company 
originally did business under the name of Brown Brothers, 
but was some time since incorporated under the laws of 
New York as the “Brown Brothers Company,” with a 
paid up capital of $100,000.00. Charles J. Brown, Roch¬ 
ester, N. Y., is president ; Robert C. Brown, Toronto, 
Ont., treasurer; and E. C. Morris, Chicago, Ill., secre¬ 
tary. Charles J. Brown has always attended to the home 
offices and nurseries, while Robert C. Brown has opened 
and managed the branch offices until firmly established. 
Mr. Morris was an employee of the firm, and his apti¬ 
tude and faithfulness to business won him an interest in 
it. The nurseries are located at Irondequoit, N. Y., 
within a few miles of Rochester, in the beautiful Gene¬ 
see Valley, and at Ridgeville, Ont., in the noted Niag¬ 
ara district. There are no places in the world so well 
adapted to the raising of nursery stock. The soil is of 
strong, gravely loam, with a heavy clay sub-soil, on 
elevated surface land and thoroughly well drained, pro¬ 
ducing vigorous and hardy trees and plants. The close 
proximity of the lakes causes a slow and careful growth 
of the tree in the nursery, thus ensuring a tree that will 
be able to stand the shock of transplanting. The as¬ 
sortment of fruits, ornamentals, shrubs and flowers raised 
by the company includes everything of recognized value, 
and embraces over 800 district varieties. New varieties 
are propagated annually, but before offered to the pub¬ 
lic are thoroughly tested on the experimental grounds 
I# 
in Ridgeville and Irondequoit, and their good qualities 
positively determined. For the season of 1891 this 
company propagated in its nurseries over a million 
trees, and for the season of 1892 one and a half million, 
besides fifty thousand roses and an immense amount of 
ornamental shrubbery and trees, grapes, small fruits, 
etc. It requires a force of from one hundred and twen¬ 
ty-five to one hundred and fifty skilled hands to grow 
this stock. Twenty-five to fifty teams of horses are 
used constantly, and each nursery is well stocked with 
cattle to furnish manure. The Rochester nurseries have 
hundreds of acres under nursery cultivation. These 
nurseries are supplied with greenhouses, cellars for stor¬ 
ing trees, residences for employees, and barns for cattle. 
No expense has been too heavy where it tended to an 
improvement. 
The Canadian nurseries of Brown Brothers Com¬ 
pany, also comprising hundreds of acres of land under 
actual nursery cultivation, are as stated, located at 
Ridgeville, Ontario, about half a mile out of the town, 
and twelve miles from St. Catherines. The property 
comprises three greenhouses, two of which will hold 
30,000 plants each and the third 15,000. There are 
also shops and a root cellar one hundred and twenty 
feet long. In these nurseries only the hardiest varieties 
are propagated. These nurseries are under the control 
of Charles Fisher, who comes of a family of nursery¬ 
men, and who is a recognized authority on all matters 
pertaining to fruit growing, and especially in the pro¬ 
duction of clematis, roses and ornamental trees and 
shrubs. Mr. Fisher is a stock holder in the company. 
During the packing season this company employs in its 
packing yards from four hundred to eight hundred 
men and boys, and the shipments daily aggregate over 
$40,000 in value. The company makes all its own 
boxes, having shops where men are employed at this 
work in the winter. The Rochester packing yard is 
located in the eastern part of the city, adjoining the 
tracks of the New York Central Railroad, from which 
the company has its own side track and platform, en¬ 
abling it to load and ship stock with more despatch than 
if compelled to send it through the regular freight houses. 
The Ridgeville packing yard is located at the nurseries. 
The home office of the company is in Rochester, 
where handsome and commodious offices are located in 
the new stone building of the Trust and Safe Deposit 
Company, on Exchange street. President Charles J. 
Brown is located here. The Chicago offices, in charge 
of Edward C. Morris, are located in the New Unity Build¬ 
ing on Dearborn street, in that city, and are elegantly 
fitted up for the nursery business. The Toronto offices 
are in the Canada Life Building on King street west. 
A great corps of correspondents, stenographers, book¬ 
keepers, copyists etc., is employed by this company, 
and fifteen Remington typewriters and several phono¬ 
graphs are in constant use in its various offices. It was 
the first nursery firm to use the phonograph in a busi¬ 
ness way. Robert C. Brown opened the Portland office 
last year and is located there. 
President Charles J. Brown and a full corps of as¬ 
sistants have been overwhelmed with work throughout 
the season, disposing of the Rochester business. Mr. 
Brown estimates that the business at the Rochester 
