“ohrough the Long Years 
Back in 1890, as we say, ‘‘things were different.” 
Cost of living was low, prices were down, tax rates 
likewise. Wages for planting labor were 15 and 20 
cents an hour. Horse-drawn wagons carried men 
and materials. 
Landscape gardening in this country was still in 
its infancy. 
Here on Cape Cod, H. V. Lawrence was selling 
Double-flowering Cherry Trees for 50 cents. “‘Hy- 
brid Perpetual’? Rose bushes were $3 a dozen. Im- 
ported Rhododendrons 2 feet high were a dollar each. 
Stable manure (‘‘it would be hardly possible to 
get on without it,’ our 1890 booklet declared) sold 
for $6.00 a cord, “well rotted, containing no sea- 
weed.” 
The stated policy then, as now, was ‘“‘the lowest 
price consistent with first-class stock and work.” 
Sixty-six years have passed since our business was 
founded. Sixty-six years of progress, of sound policy, 
of fair and honest dealing, under the continuous 
management of the original founder, Harry V. 
Lawrence, then a young man of 24, and now at 90 
still the active head of the corporation which bears 
his name. 
His younger associates of today cheerfully accept 
his charge to cherish the good reputation and the 
many friendships which long experience, hard work, 
and honest service have brought him through the 
long years. 
1H. V. Lawrence 
at his desk on 
his 90th birthday, 
September 12, 1951 
