THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
87 
INDIANA HORTICULTURE. 
The fact that this, the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Nurserymen is being; held in Indian'i 
and the Association is the recipient of many courtesies at the hands of our Hoosier friends ' is more than sufficient 
justification for giving considerable prominence to the horticulture of the state at this time. We are therefore nlcased to 
present a brief sketch of the historical phase of this industry for the preparation of which we are indebted to Professor 
James Troop, Purdue University. 
A SKETCH OF THE NURSERY BUSINESS IN INDIANA. 
JAMES TROOP, PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE, PURDUE UNIVERSITY, 
OF HORTICULTURE, 
INDIANA. 
H. M. SIMPSON, 
Senior Member of H. M. Simpson & Sons. 
EARLY" HISTORY. 
The nursery business in Indiana began about one hundred years ago 
when “Johnny Appleseed,’’ a famous character in his way, traveled this 
section of the country scat¬ 
tering apple seeds and good 
cheer wherever he went. It 
is said that he lived to see 
trees bearing fruit covering a 
territory of one hundred 
thousand acres; and believed 
that many an early pioneer 
enjoyed the fruit from these 
trees without stopping to 
question as to whether they 
were true to 'name, or 
whether they had been 
grafted upon whole or piece 
roots. At this time practi¬ 
cally all of central and south¬ 
ern Indiana was one vast 
forest wilderness. Into its 
almost impenetrable soli¬ 
tude, with its dangers and 
privations, our forefathers 
pushed their way. There 
were no railroads nor high¬ 
ways then, [for no one had 
gone before to prepare the way for their coining. 
Fortunately they came not as adventurers, but as 
home seekers, generally from the ranks of those of 
moderate means, who thought to better their con¬ 
ditions where good homes were supposed to be 
within the possiblities of their search. And the 
records show, that but few of them were disap¬ 
pointed. 
Perhaps the first of all our pioneer fruit growers 
were foreigners—a colony from Switzerland, who 
began grape growing and w T ine making at Vevay, 
in Switzerland county, on the Ohio river, at the 
very beginning of the nineteenth century. These 
were soon followed by others, mostly from the South, 
settling farther north, some of whose descendants 
are still well known among the most progressive 
horticulturists of the state. 
NURSERYMEN. 
Of the pioneer nurserymen of the state we may 
mention Reuben Ragan, who located in Putnam 
county, in 1821. Although not an extensive nur¬ 
seryman, as that term implies to-day, yet he was 
full of enterprise and industry in collecting from all 
available sources, varieties of fruits that gave promise of being valuable 
acquisitions to the lists then in cultivation. In 1824, Levi Cook began 
a nursery in Henry county, and continued in business for some years. 
In the early thirties Aaron Aldridge established the first nursery in 
Marion county, within what is now the city of Indianapolis. He was 
one of those worthy pioneers, who, in 1840, originally established the 
Indiana Horticultural Society. He was assisted in this good work by 
Henry Ward Beecher, who was then editor and proprietor of the Western 
Farmer and Gardener. Mr. Aldridge was succeeded by Martin Williams, 
EMORY ALBERTSON, 
Of Albertson & Hobbs, Chairman Transporta¬ 
tion Committee. 
W. C. REED 
Vincennes, Indiana. 
Vincennes Nurseries. 
who had his nursery on a part of the land now occupied by Crown Hill 
cemetery. 
It was about 1830 that the pioneer nursery of Morgan county was 
established by Joshua Lindley, of North Carolina. He continued in 
the business until about 1843, when he returned to his native state, 
where he lived until ripe old age, and left a legacy to posterity his only 
son, heir, and successor, the present J. Van Lindley who is well known 
§ the business for many years, 
of fruit of his own growing at 
the first meeting of the Indi¬ 
ana Horticultural Society in 
The next nurseryman of 
any note in Hendricks county 
was the late Major X. S. 
Ragan, who began business 
in 1840, on the old National 
Road, near Belleville. Later 
he removed to Clayton, where his brother, William 
A., became a partner in the business, and con¬ 
tinued it for many years. These were followed by 
a number of others who were more or less success¬ 
ful as nurserymen and fruit growers. 
In 1845 the first nursery that is still in existence, 
was established in Washington county by Oliver 
Albertson, father of Mr. E. Albertson, the present 
member of the firm of Albertson and Hobbs. 
Here he remained until 1875, when he removed to 
Bridgeport, Marion county, starting with about five 
acres. The business was soon after taken over by 
the present firm of Albertson & Hobbs and has 
steadily grown until at present it contains over three 
hundred acres, and is the largest as well as the oldest 
nursery in the state, employing about eighty men 
during the packing season. 
In 1847, Mr. E. Y. Teas started in the nursery 
business on one-half acre of land, and has con¬ 
tinued in the busine3.3 in various places in the 
state on a much enlarged area until now, after fifty- 
eight years of continuous service, he has again 
narrowed his business down to seven acres, and 
is making a spcialty of growing bulbs. Mr. Teas 
is undoubtedly the oldest active nurseryman in the state. 
In 1851 the Knox nursery of Vincennes, was established by Judge 
Archibald Simpson, father of the present senior member of the firm of 
H. M. Simpson & Sons, Like most ventures of this kind it had a small 
beginning, the first planting consisting of one thousand grafts. The 
business has steadily grown until at present the annual planting con¬ 
sists of about one million grafts and seedlings, and the nursery covers 
one hundred and twenty acres. 
One of the older but smaller nurseries, is owned and operated by 
