18 Arnoldia 78/5-6 « October 2021 
Robert and his wife, Mary Burgess, had six 
children. Their oldest son, William, took over 
the nursery by 1745, the year before Robert’s 
death. Under William’s leadership, the nurs- 
ery ultimately expanded to twenty-four acres. 
The diversity of plants increased, as did the 
total sales. At the time, the standard American 
practice for propagating fruit trees, especially 
peaches (Prunus persica), was to grow seedlings 
and not to graft a tree to a suitable rootstock. 
Because of this seed-grown method, the qual- 
ity of orchard trees was unknown until they 
came to maturity. Prince realized the commer- 
cial value of predictability and often budded or 
grafted his fruit trees to keep the variety true. 
The nursery expanded quickly between 1750 
and the beginning of the American Revolution- 
ary War in 1776. William published his first- 
known notice of advertisement on September 
21, 1767, which stated, “For sale at William 
Prince’s nursery, Flushing, a great variety of 
fruit trees, such as apple, plum, peach, nectar- 
ine, cherry, apricot and pear. They may be put 
up so as to be sent to Europe. Capt. Jeremiah 
Mitchell and Daniel Clements go to New York 
in passage boats Tuesdays and Fridays.” 
The nursery’s first-known catalogue appeared 
in 1771, a single-page broadsheet. The list con- 
tained over 230 plant selections, which was 
sizable for a nursery in colonial America. In 
addition to fruit crops, the offerings included 
evergreen trees, timber trees, and shrubs. 
Among the ornamental selections, tulip trees 
(Liriodendron tulipifera) and lilacs (three variet- 
ies, presumably Syringa vulgaris) were among 
the most expensive. An advertisement pub- 
lished in the New York Mercury, dated March 
14, 1774, stated that William Prince was sell- 
ing more than one hundred Carolina magnolias 
(Magnolia grandiflora) that were over four feet 
tall, raised from seed. He also advertised nine- 
foot-tall catalpas (Catalpa speciosa). 
The Revolutionary War halted the shipment 
of Prince’s plants to most parts of the American 
colonies, except for areas under British con- 
trol, such as Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, 
and parts of the South. These wartime closures 
hurt the business. Reports variously state that 
somewhere between three thousand to thirty 
thousand grafted cherry trees were either pur- 
chased or confiscated by the British, to be used 
as hoops for making barrels. Yet, the Princes 
were likely British Loyalists and benefited from 
military protection. In fact, William’s daughter 
Sarah married a British Army Major, Charles 
McNeill, who resigned from his military ser- 
vice after the war. And the British General Lord 
Howe ordered army units to guard the nursery, 
posting soldiers at the entrances. 
When George Washington visited the Princes 
with his entourage in 1789, his assessment of 
the poor quality and low diversity of the orna- 
mental plants may suggest that nursery was 
still recovering from the war. Yet, by the sum- 
mer of 1791, secretary of state Thomas Jefferson 
and his fellow Democratic-Republican James 
Madison of Virginia visited the nursery and 
reported more favorably. The men were touring 
New York and New England to study botanical 
curiosities, wildlife, and historic battlefields. 
They maintained that the tour was for health 
reasons and scientific exploration. Yet, those 
versed in politics noted that the trip was con- 
ducted through the country’s Federalists strong- 
holds of New York and New England instead of 
areas dominated by Jefferson’s political base of 
Democratic-Republican support. 
Jefferson desired to improve domestic agri- 
culture and arranged the nursery stop to discuss 
his ideas with William. Among the topics, they 
talked about Jefferson’s vision for promoting the 
cultivation of sugar maples (Acer saccharum) 
for syrup production. Jefferson also took the 
opportunity to order plants for himself: sugar 
maples, highbush cranberries (Viburnum tri- 
Ilobum), balsam poplars (Populus balsamifera)}, 
and Beurre Gris pears (a variety of Pyrus com- 
munis). Later, he expanded his order to include 
stone fruits and nut trees, along with an array 
of ornamental trees, shrubs, and roses. 
—_ 
As the United States grew towards the close 
of the century, so did the Prince Nursery. By 
1793, William Prince, at the age of sixty-eight, 
turned over operations to his sons Benjamin 
and William Jr. Benjamin maintained the origi- 
nal family nursery for many years, calling it the 
Old American Nursery, but it was William Jr. 
who became the primary mover of the family 
business in the third generation. In 1793, he 
purchased twenty-four acres directly northeast 
of the original nursery. There, on the banks of 
