


LAMBERTUS C. BOBBINK, Founder and President 
BOBBINK & ATKINS 
As I look back over the years I believe that my first incentive to com- 
mence a nursery was due to what at first seemed a failure, but often it is 
by failing again and again that success is finally achieved. I first came 
to America in 1895 to sell plants for a group of Holland nurserymen. 
I traveled extensively for six months, and at the end of this time returned 
to Europe practically without orders. 
The nurserymen I called on were not very much interested in orna 
mental plants, but grew 
approximately 90 per cent 
fruit trees, Catalpa Bun- 
gei, Weeping Mulberries, 
the Camperdown Elm and 
a few native conifers. 
Foundation plantings 
were made up largely of 
Norway Spruce and Pines. 
Roses on their “own 
roots,” that is from cut- 
tings, were grown in large 
quantities, although some 
few nurserymen were bud- 
ding Hybrid Perpetuals 
on ‘‘Manetti’’ understock. 
Having made arrange- 
ments with the Holland 
growers to send nursery 
stock to America, I re- 
turned in 1896, and to take care of this plant material on arrival purchased 
a few acres of land with a small building in Rutherford. Nurserymen were 
invited to look over the plants, and little difficulty was encountered in 
selling them when they could be seen. At the end of the planting season 
I returned to Europe to arrange for larger importations. ; 
In 1898 the late Mr. F. L. Atkins, who passed away in 1930 after many 
years of pleasant association, visited me one day and during the conversa- 
tion suggested that we form a partnership. Thus was the firm of Bobbink & 
Atkins created just fifty years ago. 
While we continued to import large quantities of plants, we also started 
our own production facilities in East Rutherford where we are still located. 
In 1911 I had the pleasure of showing to many leading nurserymen who 
visited our nursery, the first crop of budded Hybrid Tea Roses produced 
Harvesting roses budded on R. multiflora in 1911 

A few of our older employes with twenty or more years of uninterrupted service 

Bobbink & Atkins 
50 YEARS 
of 
HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS 
and 
SERVICE 
Fifty years enrich the mental retrospect, especially a half century of deal- 
ing with living subjects, whether plants or people. 
We feel well rewarded for the role we have played in bringing to you 
a better garden and for having started millions of plants on their careers as 
silent actors in the life drama of thousands of people. 
Interwoven into the very fabric of our organization are the threads of 
diligent labor, careful thought and honest effort to be of service to a dis- 
cerning gardening public. 
THROUGH THE YEARS 
in America. Previously budded Roses had been imported from England 
and Holland, but always arrived in the spring, and it was thought that we 
should have roses for autumn planting; thus we were encouraged to pro- 
duce this first crop, and our success was greater than anticipated. 
The following year we secured larger fields and commenced to produce 
increased quantities. Soon afterward several young men started to grow 
Roses in and around New Jersey on ‘““Multiflora,’”’ the understock we used 
and had first introduced. 
It had been by that time 
well established that 
Hybrid Tea Roses could 
be grown here. ‘Today 
Roses are produced in im- 
mense quantities in many 
other states, from coast 
to coast. Bobbink & At- 
kins still offer to the pub- 
lic the world’s largest se- 
lection of Roses, including 
many of the old-fashioned 
varieties and types, some 
of which are rare and were 
almost lost to rose lovers 
throughout the world. 
As time went on we 
began to grow and intro- 
duce the finer types of 
evergreens, both broad-leaved and coniferous, ornamentals and perennials, 
and with the splendid help of our fine personnel, many of whom with long 
years of service are still with us, we met with fair success in the produc- 
tion and dissemination of these better types of plants. 
Over the years, printing and illustrating has progressed tremendously. 
Our first catalogue was printed in 1900, and was illustrated with wood cuts. 
Today these catalogues are curiosities, and appear drab indeed against 
the finer work and colored illustrations which appear in modern catalogues. 
It has always been Bobbink & Atkins’ aim to grow good plants in the 
best possible manner, and we do appreciate the confidence placed in us 
by the plant-loving public. We look forward to the opportunity of serving 
you in the future with well-grown plants in a wide selection of varieties. 
January, 1948 
The beginning of mechanical equipment, 1909 
F ? " on 
Timken 
= ames see 
