THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
21 
JACOB \V. MANNING. 
William Manning arrived from England and was a real estate 
owner and freeman before 1634. Jacob W. Manning, the sub¬ 
ject of this sketch is of the tenth generation from William, and 
was born in Bedford, N. H., February 20, 1826, on a hilly, 
rocky farm, noted for its stone walls, many of which were from 
six to twenty-five feet wide and four to six feet high. He took 
a handy part in all farm work, and the almost constant traffic 
in cutting and putting on the market cord wood, railroad 
sleepers, ship timber, white pine lumber and pine masts cut 
from trees sixty to one hundred and sixty feet tall and three 
to six feet in diameter. He has since seen the ])ine forests of 
New England, Canada and the Northwestern states and those 
South and West of the Great Lakes and has not found larger 
or more perfect White pines than grew on and in sight of the 
old homestead. 
At the age of 21 years he went to 
Chelmsford, Mass., and worked on 
the farm of Amos Carlton at fifteen 
dollars per month and board. This 
farm at that time was one of the 
best in its vicinity, its stock and 
fruit taking many prizes at the 
neighboring agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural societies. Mr. Carlton ex¬ 
hibited fifty varieties of apples at 
the Lowell Horticultural Society in 
£848, having a small nursery in 
which he propagated large and 
small fruits. 
In 1849, Mr. Manning was fore¬ 
man in the Winnisimmet Nursery 
at Chelsea, Mass., of which Samuel 
W. Cole was the proprietor, as well 
as editor of the Boston Cultivator. 
Ephraim W. Bull of Concord, Mass., 
a gold beater by occupation, was 
the originator of the Concord grape, 
and learning that Mr. Cole had all 
of the Diana grape vines then in 
the world, outside of the original 
vine, agreed to send the only layer 
he had of his promising seedling 
black grape for a Diana vine. By 
order of Mr. Cole, Mr. Manning executed the exchange and 
planted the vine from Mr. Bull five years before it was named 
and put on the market as the Concord grape. The introduc¬ 
tion of the Concord grape was one of the greatest factors in 
the American fruit growing industry, leading as it did to the 
extensive cultivation of this vine for the market in the ratio 
of one then to one million now. 
He established the Reading Nursery in 1854. It now 
occupies some forty acres of land, mostly of sandy loam 
with portions of rich black loam especially adapted for the 
cultivation of rhododendrons and azaleas. The general 
character of the soil is such as to render the propagating of 
fruit stock un -rofitable, for which reason most of this class of 
goods is purchased from the larger wholesale nurseries of New 
York and elsewhere For the propagation of shrubs, fruit and 
ornamental trees and hardy herbaceous perennials, however, 
the soil is admirably adapted, and in consequence these are 
made specialties. A very extensive collection of ornamental 
stock is carried at all times, with large cultures of street and 
shade trees and evergreens. For more than forty years ever¬ 
greens have been a leading feature, and as a result, purchasers 
of this class of stock turn to the Reading Nursery for the rarer 
forms to complete collections. Shrubs are grown in large 
quantities and constitute a large percentage of the trade. 
Hardy perennials have been grown for more than twenty years 
past, and no expense has been spared to make a representative 
collection in America at the present time both for varietyiand 
quality. The latter besides being sold in large quantities to 
the retail trade are supplied at wholesale to the leading nur¬ 
serymen, seedsmen and landscape gardeners of the country. 
The wholesale trade is principally restricted to the hardy 
herbaceous perennials and shrubs, and there are few large 
parks, cemeteries and public institutions as well as private 
grounds of note that are not customers in this particular line. 
The nurseries, although of com¬ 
paratively small extent, are worked 
on the extensive plan, producing in 
consequence, probably quadruple 
the amount of stock that many nurs¬ 
eries of larger area may produce on 
the same acreage. Propagation of 
the rarer nursery stock is carried 
forward in a very complete propa¬ 
gating plant of some three thousand 
square feet of glass with accessory 
frames, etc. Among the introduc¬ 
tions by Mr. Manning can be noted 
the Cutter’s Seedling strawberry in 
1858, the Dracut Amber grape in 
1862, the Dartmouth crab in 1864, 
Smith’s Seedling gooseberry in 
1865, and he was active in the first 
dissemination of John’s Sweet and 
Granite Beauty apples. 
Mr. Manning has been an ex¬ 
tensive traveler throughout the 
United States and Canada, and is a 
constant attendant at the conven¬ 
tions of nurserymen, pomological 
and horticultural societies. He has 
attended every meeting of the Amer¬ 
ican Pomological Society since 1860. 
His five sons are all in active work in the nursery business 
or kindred lines. The oldest son, Warren H. Manning, is in 
business in Boston as a successful landscape gardener, having 
in charge many large planting operations. The second son, 
William S. Manning, has offices in New York as a landscape 
gardener and the third son, J. Woodward Manning has charge 
of the larger part of the details of the home business and has 
under his direct charge the landscape department of the busi¬ 
ness, which has become a very important branch. The 
two youngest sons, A. Chandler Manning and B. F. Man¬ 
ning, are actively engaged in the general work of the busi¬ 
ness. 
The Rhode Island Horticultural Society has elected the 
following officers : President, Levi W. Russell ; vice-presi¬ 
dents, R. H 1 . Goddard, J. E. C. Farnham, Royal C. Taft ; 
secretary and treasurer, C. W. Smith. 
JACOB W. MANNING. 
