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“Vol. XXXVIII January, 1955 
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nice chickens I got from 
“For | ‘the Man Behind the Hoe” 
’ “Seed Sense’? was founded as a 
magazine of ‘“‘garden talk’’ in 1910 
by Henry Field, who took great 
pleasure in editing it personally and 
sending it to his customers. We 
present herewith a few pages of cur- 
rent ‘‘Seed Sense’”’ material—being. 
mostly gardening information, plus 
oo pictures and letters from our 
stomers of today. 
* “published by © 
- Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co. 
Shenandoah, Iowa 
No.1 
Stanley Warren of Des Moines 
Wins Henry Field Rose Trophy 
Mr. Stanley Warren, 4053 Amick 
Ave., Des Moines, Iowa, won the Henry 
Field Floribunda Rose Trophy at the 
Iowa Rose Society’s Rose Show held in 
Waterloo, Iowa, June 138, 1954. The va- 
riety was Buten. Last year’s winner 
was Mr, Glen Vauthrin of Melbourne, 
Iowa. ~ 
During the past few years, we here 
at Henry Field’s have been of the 
opinion that more encouragement 
should be given to the growing of the 
lovely Floribunda roses, which we 
think are the ‘‘coming” roses. In the 
past, most rose awards have been 
given for hybrid tea only. 
The trophy is awarded annually by 
the judges of the Iowa Rose Society’s 
Rose Show to the person having the 
best Floribunda rose in the show. If 
a person wins the trophy three times 
in succession, he becomes its perma- 
nent owner, and a new trophy will be 
presented to the winner the following 
seyear. 
The Henry Field trophy is gold 
} plated, 20 inches in height, and has the 
nhames of the winners engraved on it. 
The contest is open to members of the 
Iowa Rose Society. Anyone wishing to 
enter this year’s show should write 
directly to the Iowa Rose Society, 
State House, Des Moines, Iowa. 
“I want to tell you how wonderful 
your Bug Dust is. It kills all insects. 
Ft is in a bag; be sure you send me 
just like it again.”—Thomas Blizard, 
720 8. O’Brien St., Seymour, Ind, 
\ 
eo 
Mayan Husk Tomato 
434—This ‘strain was grown by the 
Aztec Indians of Guatemala long be- 
fore the white man came to America. 
It was brought to this country by the 
Iowa State College people. 
It grows like ground cherry. You 
ise it as you would ground cherry, or 
tomato. Makes fine sauce or preserves, 
nd stands hot, dry Vela Pkt., 25c, 
postpaid, } 
We have a letter from Clare Ekey, 
niondale, Indiana, telling us about a 
he grew from 
ays Henry Field seed grows 100% 
every year. 
i “This is a letter of thanks for the 
you this 
ring. I got my first pullet egg when 
ey were 4 months and 1 week old. 
lso took some of each to the County 
air and won first prize on them all.” 
Glen Ahrendsen, Manning, Iowa. 
“The flowering crab apple tree I 
bought five years ago is a beautiful 
nmamental and bears good fruit too. 
made 8 pints of butter and 14 pints 
jell this year. I can’t say too much 
your trees and seeds.”—Claire Un- 
Taft Ave., Ottawa, 
This is eatette Lehnhoff, outs 1, 
Willmar, Minn., who writes that she 
taken gardening in club work 
e 1952. She has taken first in the 
‘ ty two years, and second once, 
We lways buy Henry Field's seeds,” 
tes Jeanette. 
Box 
‘Says Red: Bird Tomato Best 
“Last spring you sent me a packet 
of Red Bird tomato seed. They were 
the best I ever raised. We had them 
in abundance all summer and picked 
some as late as Dec. 1. I want some 
next season so please send your cata- 
log as soon as it is ready. I also want 
some other seed.”—J. H. Lewis, Flee- 
ton, Va. 
Up until this year we had sold Red 
Bird through our newspaper advertis- 
ing only, but so many people have 
asked us to put it in the catalog that 
we have done so this year. See page 9. 
: Save on Vegetable Plants 
Order the “Neighborhood Lots’ 
If you and your neighbors will go 
together and order your vegetable 
plants, you will be surprised at the 
money you can save. Here are our 
prices for larger quantities than those 
shown on page 8: 
Onions 
2G 10—Sweet Spanish or 2G! !—White 
Bermuda. 6,000 plants (I erate) for 
6.98, express collect from Texas 
grower. 
Cabbage Plants 
1G1O—Jersey Wakefield. 1Glit— 
Norseman. {G!2—Flat Dutch. 2,000 
plants for 4.98, express collect’ from 
Texas grower. : / 
Sweet Potato Plants 
3G1{—Porto Rico. 3G12—Yellow Jer- 
sey. 2,000 plants for 13.50; 6,000 
Plants for 38.00, both express collect 
from Texas grower. 
Tomato Plants 
4G10O—Earliana,. 4G! 1!—Marglobe. 
4G12—Rutgers. 2,000 plants for 8.79, 
express collect from Texas grower. 
Another Topcrop Booster 
Novella Jones of Cedar Grove, Tenn., 
writes: 
“Enclosed is a picture of my mother 
with a basket of our Topecrop beans 
raised from seed bought from you. 
From ¥% lb. seed we canned 40 quarts 
and had lots of beans to eat and give 
our neighbors. We recommend Top- 
erop to all as a heavy producer and 
also a very fine flavored bean.” 
Sorry the picture was too dark to 
print. 
New Packing Makes Big Hit 
Last year part of our nursery stock 
was shipped in the new polyethylene 
film deseribed in this catalog. Hun- 
dreds of people voluntarily wrote us 
about it. Here are a few typical let- 
ters: : 
“T want to thank you for the plants 
you sent us. They arrived in very nice 
shape and want to thank you for the 
wonderful and careful way you packed 
them.”—John S, Albracht, Hereford, 
Texas. 
“We wish to express our apprecia- 
tion for order received last week. It 
came across country in excellent con- 
dition.”’”—Mrs. Warren H. Plimpton, 
Dublin, New Hampshire. 
“This is to let you know how pleased 
I was to receive such nice plants. 
They arrived in excellent condition,.’— 
Mrs. Geo. Creeth, Burbank, Calif. 
“T want to write and tell you how 
very much I appreciate the service you 
extend to your out-of-state customers, 
and the by far superior method of 
packing nursery stock which you use. 
“T ordered spring nursery stock and 
house plants from you and two out-of- 
state companies. One of the others 
sent my stock wrapped in shavings, 
and the other one came in newspaper 
clippings. Needless to say, two of 
three plants were dead.or dying, on 
arrival. The ones I received from you, 
with their careful handling, have 
thrived and grown beyond all expec- 
tations. I just want to tell you that 
from this day on all my nursery stock 
will come from Field’s. I have had two 
of my friends order from your com- 
pany, and they are so pleased that 
they are telling their friends in turn.” 
—Mrs. Roy M. Wilson, Route 12, Box 
534, Houston 12, Texas. 
“Everything came in such perfect 
eondition. Can hardly believe it. 
Didn’t know things were being mailed 
in such perfect containers. Will not 
be afraid to send now.’—Mrs, Ina 
Davis, Route 1, Monticello, Minn. 
“T am writing to let you know how 
pleased we were to see how good the 
strawberries and mums came in plas- 
tic bags. They looked as if they just 
eame from the ground—nice and 
green.’—Mrs. A. M. Teixeira, 574 Hath- 
away Road, New Bedford, Mass. 
‘T want to compliment you on the 
packing of my recent order, epecially 
the ‘Flame Violets.’ They were as nice 
and fresh as if I had just gotten them 
from across the street.'’-—Mrs, Ann 
Porterfield, Ferguson 21, Mo. 
“T received the peach trees and 
grape: vines yesterday afternoon, They 
were in excellent shape when they ar- 
rived here and I must say the trees are 
the finest fruit trees 2) have ever seen; 
also the grape vines.’”—G. A. Rittel- 
mann, 318 Third St., Ambridge, Penn. 
On Mareh 1, 1954, these hollyhock 
plants were wrapped in polyethylene 
coated Kraft paper, just as we now 
wrap them for shipment, and put in 
common storage, (not refrigerated). 
They were unwrapped and planted 
here in Shenandoah, Iowa, on June 15, 
1954, a date far past their normal 
planting time. The weather at that 
time was running 90 degrees or higher 
every day—the beginning of a dry, hot 
summer. Yet all the plants lived, grew 
quickly, and were very healthy, as you 
ean see by the actual photograph of 
the same plants: 
AMAZING NEW METHOD OF WRAPPING NURSERY STOCK 
Gives You Plants That Grow Better—Get Off to Faster Start 
We have adopted an entirely new 
method of wrapping our nursery stock 
for shipment to you. We no longer put 
the roots of the plants in heavy, wa- 
ter-soaked spaghnum moss, and then 
wrap the whole plant in plain heavy 
kraft paper. 
Now the wet spaghnum moss is 
eliminated. Some of the plants now 
are put into a bag made of polyethy- 
lene film—a strong but almost trans- 
parent plastic film, Others are wrapped 
in a kraft paper that has been coated 
on the inside with polyethylene. Which 
method is used depends upon which is 
better for the particular plant being 
shipped, but in no case is any packing 
of any type used. All nursery stock 
excepting a few very large trees sent 
by express are wrapped in this man- 
ner. 
The Plant Breathes 
This new polyethylene film does two 
important things for the plant in ship- 
ment. First, it allows the plant to 
“breathe.” Gases, or air, can pass back 
and forth through the film. A plant 
that can’t breathe will smother to 
death, 
Secondly, while allowing the air to 
pass back and forth, the film retains 
moisture. Thus the plants do not dry 
out. 
It no longer is necessary to pack the 
roots of the plants in wet spaghnum 
moss. In fact, with this new film, it is 
better not to. The dormant plants 
which we ship need to be protected 
from drying out, but at the same time 
it is not good to get them too wet. 
A deciduous (not evergreen) tree or 
shrub growing in your yard prepares 
itself for winter by shedding its leaves 
and arresting the flow of “sap.” It 
adapts itself to a period when it gets 
practically no food or moisture. The 
roots do not drink copious quantities 
of water as they do in warmer weather 
when growing, but want only-to be 
protected from drying out, a job done 
well by the frozen ground. 
With our new method of packing 
we cooperate with nature. 
Developed by Iowa State College 
This new method of wrapping plants 
for shipment was developed by the 
Iowa State Agricultural College at 
Ames, Iowa. So far three years of re- 
search have gone into the project. 
Hundreds of different methods have 
been tried. Plants have been packed 
in various materials in many different 
ways. They then have been shipped 
long distances, or held in storage for 
long periods. ‘Careful records have 
been kept upon how these plants grew 
after being unwrapped and planted. 
The method we are using has proved 
best. 
Better Plants for You 
This new method of shipping means 
that you receive plants that are neither 
water-soaked nor dried out. They may 
look dry, but they really are not; it is 
the nature of dormant plants to look 
that way. Actually, they are “sleep- 
ing.” Just as soon as they are planted, 
they awaken with the warm ground 
and weather, and start growing. It is 
the age-long magic of spring. 
Can Ship Long Distances 
This new method of wrapping means 
also that no matter how far away 
from our nursery you live, the plants 
arrive at your place in good growing 
condition. We, and the Iowa State Col- 
lege, have proved that plants shipped 
thousands of miles arrive in just as 
Field Seed & Nursery Co., “MIDWEST'S LEADING SEEDHOUSE, “ Shenandoah, Iowa 
good growing con- 
dition as_ those 
carried across the 
street. In fact, 
they are_ better 
than improperly 
packed plants car- 
ried just a’ few 
miles in an auto- 
mobile. This is 
particularly true 
if the stock has 
been improperly 
stored in a retail 
store, or sales 
ground. 
You Can Plant 
Later in the 
Season 
With our old 
method of wrap- 
% oe 3 
pene On | 
ping nurs ex y This is how we 
stock in moist now pack straw- 
packing, it Was perry plants for 
often dificult to Sah pon eon eh 
keep plants dor- 
2 tsa » i F 
mant in the pack- Toots#re putinto a 
age. When kept in Polyethylene bag 
warm places in W hich retains 
the mails the Moisture, yet al- 
plants would start lows the plant to 
growing in the “breathe” — no 
package, develop- packing! 
ing a soft unnat- 
ural white growth 
of stems and buds which would wither 
quickly when planted out and exposed 
to normal weather. They might sur- 
vive, but at best they went through a 
trying convalescent period. 
With this new method of packing, 
we have held dormant plants long past 
the normal planting time, without soft 
growth starting in the package, then 
planted them out. The results have 
been astounding. The plants have 
grown with practically no loss. 
We still encourage you to order 
early, and plant as promptly as pos- 
sible after you receive your plants. But 
if circumstances make early ordering 
impossible, do not hesitate to order a 
little later in the season if you buy 
your stock from Henry Field's 
Danger of Plant .- 
Loss is Practicaily 
Eliminated 
All of this adds 
up to the fact that 
the nursery stock 
you get from Hen- 
ry Field’s will 
grow better for 
you, get off to a 
faster start, and 
mature into bet- 
ter specimens. 
This apricet 
tree, like the holly- 
hock plants, was 
wrapped on March 
1, 1954, left in com- 
mon, unrefrigera- 
ted storagze until 
June 15, 1954, and 
then planted. It is 
more difficult “to 
start apricot trees 
successfully late 
in the season than 
most other plants, 
yet this tree grew 
well, as you can 
see by the photo- 
graph. 
Many other® 
plants were like- 
wise tested with 
the same success, 
