
Since 1890 


This 15 year old boy with a hoe obviously is visionary, so we must overlook his 
apparent “slow-down.” This, his first greenhouse job, called for working about 
11 hours daily for $8.00 monthly, and with this he saved his first $100. Not 
unusual those days, for thrift was not yet outmoded during the so-called “gay 
nineties.” But those 5 little 12x50 ft. flue-heated greenhouses in the back- 
ground, each with its little chimney, were of prime interest to him. To clean 
those flues it was his job to drag a small Christmas tree thru each one weekly. 
For ventilation 6 in. boards attached to the ridge were used, battening them 
down for winter, and fastening them open with the coming of spring. Water- 
ing was done with a can, of course. But our modern greenhouse business was 
in the making and great progress has been made over these 58 years. 
Little could this day-dreaming boy visualize automatic ventilation, Dunham 
thermostatically controlled heating, and the automatic sub-watering principles 
of today. And—little did he know about the single plant selection principle 
that later so interested him and that is so greatly improving greenhouse stock 
today. These innovations will be found in our above 22 acres of glass. They 
are entirely devoted to growing and originating your finest, most valuable 
strains of — 
