THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
27 
GOVERNMENT SEED CONTRACT. • 
On March 20th, Secretary Wilson awarded the contract for 
supplying the U. S. Department of Agriculture with garden, 
field and flower seed for the year 1901, to the New York 
Market Gardeners’ Association of New York, at their bid of 
$68,874.12. The other bidders were the Ullathorne Seed Co.> 
of Memphis, Tenn., $67,500; Charles Parker, Santa Clara, Cal. 
$75,000; The Henry Phillips Seed and Implement Co., 
Toledo, $77,696.01; J. M. Thorburn & Co., New York, 
$94,098, and Oscar H. Will & Co., Bismarck, N. Dak., $134,- 
504.34. The bid of the Ullathorne Seed Co. was withdrawn 
and the award was made to the next lowest bidder. 
The total number of packets of seed required is 15,086,968. 
Of this number 13,936,000 are vegetable seeds, 150,400 field 
and lawn grass seeds, and 1,000.568 flower seeds. The amount 
appropriated was $130,000, but $20,000 of the appropriation 
is for purchasing seeds, trees and plants from foreign countries, 
PIONEER NURSERYMEN. 
From time to time there have been interesting accounts of 
the beginning of the nursery business in America. As matters 
of history and for reference, these articles are of much value 
One of the best reviews of the early nursery business is that 
in the paper read by James Wood, president of the Eastern 
New York Horticultural Society. He said : 
When the Huguenots were driven out of France and were scattered 
throughout the world, they enriched every country whither they went. 
In many they established industries that remained until the present 
time, in some cases becoming of vast importance, and to all they took 
sterling qualities of intelligence and industry and integrity and devo¬ 
tion that have greatly aided the common good. To America they 
brought, among other contributions, a knowledge of and a love for 
horticulture that had advanced so splendidly in their beloved France- 
It is stated that as early as 1660 a number of Huguenots came to Flush¬ 
ing on Long Island, and that by 1687, following the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes, the number had become considerable. They intro, 
duced the industry of horticulture, for which the town has ever since 
been famous. It is probable that their success in this industry attracted 
the attention af William Prince, and led him to establish there the first 
commercial nursery in America, which made Flushing the originnal 
center from which the extended cultivation of fruit in America may be 
said to have sprung. Prince’s nursery was established in 1737, and 
continued in the management of the family for over a century. From 
it the grafted trees for nearly all the original orchards of apples, pears, 
and cherries of some of the New England states, and all of New York 
and New Jersey were obtained. It was called the Linnean Botanic 
Gardens. When the British took possession of Long Island during the 
revolutionary war, Gen. Howe placed a guard at the nurseries to pro¬ 
tect them from injury. The war so destroyed the demand for trees 
that Mr. Prince sold over 10,000 grafted cherry trees for hoop poles. 
It would be interesting to compute, if it were possible, the produc¬ 
tion of those pioneer trees sent out from Flushing. Rhode Island 
Greening trees in great vigor and unstinted fruitfulness are still stand¬ 
ing upon my own farm in Westchester county, where they were 
planted more than one hundred years ago. The Fall Pippins, Esopus 
Spitzenburgs and Vandeveres, that were their early companions, have 
long since passed away. Some excellent varieties were sent out from 
Flushing that have not been generally grown, because they were not 
profitable for market. A striking example of this is the Golden Pip¬ 
pin, unsurpassed in quality and without an equal for flavor, when at 
its best, but because the fruit is frequently knotty and ill-formed, it 
has never been known, so far as I can learn, outside of Westchester 
county, and all that have been grown there were grown from grafts 
taken from Flushing stock in my ancestor’s orchards. 
But Prince’s Nurseries did more than grow trees—they trained men. 
It was the school in which some gained the practical knowledge which 
qualified them to become very prominent and important in this line 
of business. Conspicuous among these were Patrick Barry, who, after 
intelligent employment at Prince’s, took payment in nursery stock for 
a portion of the amount due him, and, uniting with Mr. Ellwanger, 
established in 1838 that unequaled nursery at Rochester, which has 
achieved such a world wide reputation. There were others at Prince’s 
nuiseiies who became noted as nurserymen. Nurseries are the active 
agents by which improved fruits are almost exclusively disseminated. 
About 1795 the Prince nurseries were divided, William Prince, the son 
of the founder, taking the “ Linnean Botanic Nursery,” and Benjamin 
Prince The Old American Nursery.” The Bloodgood Nurseries were 
established at Flushing in 1790. These have had several proprietors in 
succeeding years, and have had a peculiar reputation because the pear 
trees planted about Boston were chiefly furnished from them. 
There are no more conspicuous names in the history of American 
horticulture and pomology than those of Charles and Andrew Jackson 
Downing of Newburg. They were the second and the fifth child 
respectively of Samuel Downing, who removed from Cambridge, 
Mass., to Newburg near the beginning of this century, and began the 
nursery business there in 1810. He died in 1822, when these sons suc¬ 
ceeded to the business. As the editor of the Horticulturist, Andrew 
became the recognized leader in American horticulture and pomology, 
and the father of American landscape gardening. His great ability and 
charming style as a writer, and his enthusiasm for these arts created an 
interest in the public mind that resulted in the phenomenal develop¬ 
ment to which we have referred. In this respect his position is en¬ 
tirely unique. Charles gave more practical attention to the nursery 
business, and also, after his brother’s death in 1858, edited editions of 
“ Downing’s Fruits and Fruit Trees of America,” which first appeared 
in 1845. 
The demand for fruit trees and horticultural plants resulting from 
the growth of the country and the interest aroused by such writers as 
A. J. Downing, Jesse Buel, Luther Tucker and J. J. Thomas, was met 
by numerous nurseries, some of them of large size, which soon sprang 
into existence. The Hooker nurseries at Rochester were founded by . 
a farmer proprietor in 1830, and that of Ellwanger & Barry and of 
Parsons & Co. at Flushing in 1838. A. Saul & Co. became the succes¬ 
sors to the Downings at Newburg in 1847. T. C. Maxwell & Brothers 
at Geneva, and A. Frost & Co. of Rochester, started in 1848. Other 
establishments chiefly in the center and western portions of the state 
rapidly followed. 
THE PARIS EXPOSITION. 
The horticultural exhibits at the Paris exposition will be 
as follows: 
The section of horticulture begins with Class 43. which is devoted 
to horticultural implements and sundries. These will be exhibited 
under the Horticultural Palace. The greenhouses, frames, etc., be¬ 
longing to same class, will stand on isolated sites, part in the Champs 
Elysees gardens and part at Vincennes. 
Class 44—Vegetables, will occupy several hundred yards at Vin¬ 
cennes. 
Class 45 for fruit and fruit trees. The position for these has not yet 
been decided on. It appears, however, that it will be located at Yin- 
cennes, also, except those under the title of “formed and standard 
fruit trees,” which will be planted on the banks of the Seine on each 
side of the Alexander III. bridge, 9,000 square yards being devoted 
here for that purpose. 
Class 46 includes ornamental trees and shrubs, everlasting and decidu. 
ous, conifers, roses, etc., perennial and annual flowers. These will 
occupy about .4,000 square yards in the Trocadero’s Gardens; 2,000 
square yards in the Invalides Esplanade (more especially the roses), the 
non-decorative exhibits of same class being at Vincennes. 
Class 47 is set aside for stove and greenhouse plants. These will 
occupy a big house on the right of the group of large greenhouses, 
and houses included in Group 43. 
Class 48 for seeds, stocks and seedlings. The seeds will be exhibited 
in a large house of the group of houses. At Vincennes will be shown 
the stocks and seedlings. 
