THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
63 
FREDERICK W. KELSEY. 
Monroe county, New York, is Mr. Kelsey’s native place 
and former home. He was born in Ogden, this county, 
and resided there until at the age of twenty he was em¬ 
ployed by Ellwanger & Barry. It was with that establish¬ 
ment he obtained his first practical knowledge of, and 
initiation into, the nursery business. 
Not content with being in the employ of others, he 
began business on his own account the second year, and 
has conducted a successful business since. He is one of 
the few men that have had the ability or good fortune (or 
both) of continuing a profitable nursery business in a large 
commercial city. Mr. Kelsey went to New York some 
eighteen or twenty years ago. Although the last place 
one might think favorable to the 
nursery business—and as many 
have by experience found it—he 
soon established a valuable trade 
and accjuaintance among the best 
class of purchasers of nursery 
material in the country. Many 
of his first customers are still on 
his books. 
Besides Mr. Kelsey’s regular 
business in nursery stock he has 
the account of Messrs. Colombe 
Brothers of Ussy, France, whose 
business in French seedling stocks 
here is constantly increasing. Of 
his own stock Mr. Kelsey’s 
specialty is fine ornamentals. 
Probably some of the largest 
single orders for this class of 
material ever given in this 
country have been placed with 
him. 
His catalogues sent out every 
season are effective and well cal¬ 
culated to attract a desirable class 
of patrons. The new No. 34 
edition for the present year has 
attracted much attention and is considered one of the 
finest nursery catalogues published. Mr. Kelsey is a per¬ 
sistent worker and a firm believer in the theory that all 
things will not “ come to him who waits ” unless in the 
meantime the waiting is accompanied with hard work ;— 
that success in most cases is earned,—not the gift of fickle 
fortune. 
The recent nursery and plant classification made by the 
New York Florists’ Club committee, of which Mr. Kelsey 
is chairman, was with but slight exceptions adopted by 
the Treasury Department and instructions were sent in 
April to the different custom houses of the country to 
collect duty, or pass free, material as classified in that list. 
It was the first systematic effort made toward co-operation 
with the government to secure a correct and uniform 
classification for nursery and plant material, and its adop¬ 
FREDERICK W. KELSEY. 
tion will greatly lessen, if not entirely prevent, the injustice 
of conflicting rulings under which heretofore the same 
kind of material has at some ports of entry been dutiable 
and at other places been passed free. 
The list was printed in full in The National Nursery¬ 
man for P'ebruary and copied in many of the leading 
horticultural journals, including the Gardener s Chronicle 
of London. 
Mr. Kelsey has other interests outside of his nursery 
business, but has found time to devote considerable atten¬ 
tion to both local and public questions. His home is at 
Orange, N. J. As chairman of a committee of represen¬ 
tative property owners he was largely instrumental in de¬ 
feating the schemes of the traction companies in their 
efforts to destroy the few remaining broad avenues in 
Essex county. He was also the 
chairman of the commitee that 
framed the excellent New Jersey 
Street Tree Planting Law, a 
synopsis of which was given in 
The National Nurseryman 
of June, last year. The prin¬ 
cipal features of this law have 
been copied in other states, and 
should be encouraged by every 
nurseryman in the country. 
Perhaps the most important 
public work Mr. Kelsey has yet 
accomplished was the formula¬ 
tion of the original plan of the 
Essex County Park enterprise. 
Although this was but a little 
more than a year ago the plan 
was everywhere approved, and 
the present commission, of which 
Mr. Kelsey is a member, has now 
the requisite authority to estab¬ 
lish the park system and an ap¬ 
propriation of $2,500,000 avail¬ 
able for the purpose. The bill 
providing for this loan and giving 
the new commission ample 
power to inaugurate and develop the system passed the 
New Jersey Legislature without a dissenting vote in 
either House, and was approved by a majority of over 
8,000 by the electorate of Essex county at the spring 
election in April. In the May number of The National 
Nurseryman reference was made to this great under¬ 
taking and Mr. Kelsey’s part in it, and the Newark papers 
editorially refer to him as the “ father of this later move¬ 
ment for public parks in Essex county,” Mr. Kelsey is 
active in the duties of good citizenship. 
The Newark Advertiser said editorially : “ Judge Depue 
discharged his duty under the new park law by appoint¬ 
ing the Essex county park commissioners to-day. The 
selections he has made could not be improved upon and 
they will commend themselves to the approval of the 
entire county,” 
