Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Nice, Free Herb Book from J. Paul Getty Gardens

Many of the large art museums are placing some of their publications and other rarer, out-of-print books online to read or to download as a PDF.  I was cruising their lists when this popped up and I thought you might like it!  Did I mention it is free? :-)

Ancient Herbs download

Visit the J. Paul Getty site and cruise for more books.



Tuesday, May 9, 2017

1896 - Miss C.H. Lippincott's Fire King Aster






Love those lithographs!  


I couldn't resist sharing this one of 
Miss C.H. Lippincott's back covers featuring the aster, Fire King.

More on Miss Lippincott:
        •  Three Misses From Minneapolis
        • Found It!





Friday, May 5, 2017

A Few 20th Century Seed Packets of Stocks

I am posting these Stocks seed packets as a follow up to 1828 - A Happy Man and His Matthiola incana.   I'm not too fond of this sort of crowded, many petaled sort of bloom.  However, I want to give it a try for the clove scent.  And bees like the single flower stock! They may give this a try but I don't know.

I find some people call it Stock and others refer to it as Stocks.  








1828 - A Happy Man and His Matthiola incana

plantillustrations.org

William Wilson's glee in developing a new variety of Matthiola incana, the garden flower Stock is catching.  An old fashioned favorite, I think I'll have to try it for the "clove-like scent"!  Seedsman Michael Floy's name in this article led me to this article as he features in a funny anecdote.
  

Johnny's Selected Seeds writes,
"Stock are a favorite among growers due to their fast maturity time. When day length is at least 13 hours, a harvestable crop can be achieved within 10–12 weeks; one of the earliest cut flowers for cooler times of the year. The ability to withstand cooler temperatures — down to 10–20°F/-12– -7°C — allows for season extension and holiday sales. Florists also appreciate Stock for their broad range of colors and easily recognized clove-like fragrance."


I have edited this article a bit, for, as charming as the writer is, his five mile long sentences, lack of commas, and purple prose were even too much for me!



From the N. Y. Farmer and Horticultural Repository.

ART. 89.—An improved variety of Ten-week stock.
It is generally very interesting to the lovers of fine flowers to be informed of the origin and progress of the improvements introduced among the finer sorts of them. The Stock's July flower when in bloom exhibits a most beautiful appearance, and emits such a delightful fragrance as entitles it to a rank in the heraldry of Flora, almost on level with the inimitable rose. 

It would perhaps not be saying too much should we aver that the variety about to be described exceeds every other of the species ...  

... we have taken no inconsiderable length of time, and employed no small care and trouble, in endeavoring to find out whether this individual variety, or any other equal to it, had ever been known to exist previous to or independent of its origin under our own cultivation at New-York, without being able to discover a single instance of either. 

We, therefore, have concluded that it has been our gratifying lot to have been the first cultivators of a variety of the Stock superior to every other that has ever come under the observation of any gardener or botanist to whom we have exhibited it or conversed with on the subject. 

In the year 1807, more than twenty years ago, I raised several hundred plants of the ten-week stock, from one paper of seed that I obtained of Mr. Michael Floy, Nursery and Seedsman.     The plants were the most single straggling looking rascals I ever grew. 

CAUTION: Long Sentence Ahead
But as seeds obtained at the shops are generally suspected, I had raised another batch of them, in hopes of raising enough of good double ones, for I calculated upon two thirds of them being single, and not worth the saving, and in this I was not disappointed, yet after having made Mr. Floy a severe and, I hope, seasonable lecture, on the abominable trash of stock seed he had sold me, I observed among them four double ones different, and I thought better than I had ever seen before. 


Botanische wandplaten 1899
But, alas, they would produce no seed, and the whole multitude of the wide placed long pedicled narrow sharp pointed flower buds were watched for and examined with an anxiety at the recollection of which, I have often since laughed heartily.  (No commas, but all the descriptive words were right on! :-)

At last, two stubborn dwarf stinted looking dogs began to open their close plane short pediciled bloom. Their seed had certainly been produced in the same pericarpium, as that of the four doubles. I forgave Mr. Floy for my disappointment in all the rest, and even sold him one of the single and one of the double new sorts for two dollars, upon the express condition that he was to raise none of the seed of that sort for sale, nor to part with any of the single flowering plants upon the pain of losing his lugg, alias, his right ear. Which condition I believe he faithfully fulfilled, for a period of more than seven years, during which time very few of the double plants that either he or I raised were sold for less than a dollar, and some good plants at pinching times after brought us nearly two. 

At last about the year 1815 some of the single plants found their way in a manner not necessary to be described from my garden to several of my neighbours who afterwards informed me of the circumstances, on which we sometimes to this day pass some hearty jokes when we meet together. 


1620, Bessler - Hortus Eystettensis
About fifteen or sixteen years ago, I sent some of the seed of this sort to London by a gentleman of Middletown, an experienced gardener, who afterwards informed me it was much admired there, and had not, so far as he could learn, ever been known there before.
Mr. Thomas Hogg, now a nurseryman in this city, who is well acquainted with the horticultural productions about London, considers this to be a superior and distinct variety from those formerly raised in England. 
I have also sent seed of it to Mr. Stewart Murray, of the Royal Botanic Garden of Glasgow, who has acknowledged in letters I have received from him since, that it is the finest sort he ever saw. But in a letter I received from him lately, he says he thinks it either degenerates there, or he had lost the breed. 
(Hogg came to NY  from Scotland, via London, in 1822.)

That certain plants succeed Better in particular situations than others, is well known to horticulturists; and New York may well be proud of this daughter of Flora, for its cultivation here has succeeded to such a degree that many instances are to be found of single flowering plants producing numbers of double flowers, as the specimens I exhibited at the meeting of the New York Horticultural Society, about a week ago, clearly proves. And this is a circumstance which I have never heard of taking place in any of other variety of the stock but this, nor in any other part of the world but New York. 

Seed from these plants which have the double flowers intervened, generally produce four double plants to one single, and sometimes they come almost nit double together. All these plants regain a strong short stocky form; the flowers are almost sessile on the peduncles, and are of such a large size and so close together, that the whole plant when in full bloom has the appearance of one universal expansion of flower petals. And in this state, they continue for months together; nor are the plants like the ten week stocks, lost when their bloom is over, but for successive years do they continue to produce their rose coloured blossoms. 

It has long been known in this place by the title of Wilson's Stock, and until some other plan can be, upon better authority, suggested for its origin, I see no impropriety of styling it the New-York Stock. It will be likely long to continue to decorate the gardens and green houses in this place, and it has already well repaid all the pains bestowed upon it by

WILLIAM WILSON.

Murray Hill Nursery,
May 27, 1828.


William Wilson, Nurseryman, beside a large greenhouse, at the corner of 4th and Macdougal St. (now corner of Washington Square), had an extensive nursery at Murray Hill, covering about 10 acres.

ANOTHER nice info and seed source:
http://www.seedaholic.com/matthiola-incana-ten-week-stock-mix.html

Sunday, April 30, 2017

1923 - Mr. Cook's Roots Disappoint Mrs. Graves

A delightful letter.  I wonder how A. T. Cook responded! 


A. T. Cook links - (1) (2) (3) (4 This one is on cinnamon vines, too.) (6) (7) (8)



Friday, April 28, 2017

Watermelon History...really...

I was watching Mind of a Chef when this popped up!  Luckily this section was posted on YouTube.

Do I believe this history of the watermelon?  I don't know.  
I think  a little research would be interesting. 




Watermelons mentioned are the Lawson, the most desirable, and also the Carolina Sweet and Mountain Sweet.  Another history on the NPR site of the Lawson, (also called the Bradford melon) gives more information from the Bradford family. It's a great article, well worth reading!



Thursday, April 27, 2017

1824 - Thomas and Alfred Bridgeman, Seedsmen, of New York

This charming woodcut is from Thomas Bridgeman's 1835 Florist's Guide.



I first heard of the seedsmen, father and son, Thomas and Alfred Bridgeman from this article.

Early New York Florists  (from 
American Florist 1913)

One of the older florists recently recalling the flower trade of this city in the sixties (1860s) said that business was better then than now. He cited the prices paid for large decorations in those days as being higher than now. From the difficulty experienced in securing flowers, it would naturally seem to be the case. Men would be started very early in the morning and cross the Hudson to New Jersey, and then in some instances take the stage, until they reached the greenhouses. They were not always fortunate in securing flowers but in any event it was near noon before they got back to New York.


 Nearly all the New York florists had at that time small greenhouses and gardens of their own. A florist who's advent into the business in this city seems to have been at a date beyond the memory of any one now in the trade, was Isaac Buchanan, who was located on Seventeenth street, west of Broadway.  There are men now in the business who worked for him but nobody seems to remember just when he came here. Some think that it was he that erected the first greenhouse in this city. He seems to have been a prosperous florist, as it is said that he owned and lived in a four-story brownstone residence.’
  • David Clarke, whose sons continue the business which he founded came here in 1849 and immediately started in business for himself, eventually locating on what is now Broadway, but was then called the Bloomingdale road.
     
  • J. N. Hauser located on what is now Fiftieth street. His sons are yet active in the business.
  • Thomas Bridgeman was both a florist and seedsman on Eighteen street and the name “Bridgeman's Seed Warehouse" has existed for business purposes until a very recent date.
  • John B. Nugent had greenhouses at Fourteenth street and Second avenue. He is the father of John B. Nugent, Jr., the senior member of the firm of Young & Nugent, and is now an aged man.
  • Others of the old florists were Hauft Bros. This firm still exists; formerly located at Broadway and Third street;
  • D. Wilson, Fourteen street east of Sixth avenue;
  • Klunder & Long, N. E. corner of Broadway and Second street;
  • Wm. Brower, Broadway and Twenty-third street.
  • Other florists of former days of whom little is now remembered were Buist, Gableson, “Scotchy” Reed and Riddit. 
It would indeed be a novelty to find a greenhouse and garden at the present time at the places they were found fifty years ago.

The “wholesale store" of those days was a basket or a box with a strap attached for convenience in carrying. We hear much complaint at present of low prices and poor business, but harking back to the old days we believe that many of our present day florists do not realize how well off they are. If there were no other considerations, the multiplication of facilities for doing business is a great compensation for an occasional surplus. We would say that the actual labor is but as child's play, compared to what it was in the earlier years of the flower industry.





First, the father, Thomas.   What a wonderful engraving from the The Fruit Cultivator’s Manual!  The artist is Charles E. Weir.  I think Weir only lived to age 22, 1823-1845. This portrait is from 1843.
"Thomas Bridgeman was an English gardener, born in Berkshire, who came to New York in 1824, leased land on what is now 874 Broadway, and at once built greenhouses, and sold seeds. 
Like so many of the gardeners of the Old World, at that date, he was a man of broad intelligence, and he wrote valuable works on fruits, vegetables and flowers. His “Young Gardener’s Assistant” (published in 1829) went through several editions, and has a good sale even unto this day. He died in 1850."  
source: Meehans' Monthly: A Magazine of Horticulture, 1899

A little more background surfaced in the Boston publication Horticulture which  proudly reported:
The British Encyclopedia of National Biographies says that Thos. Bridgeman who settled in New York in 1824 and wrote on horticulture is a descendant of the Bridgeman who planned the Kew Gardens and who is mentioned by Horace Walpole in his “Memoirs” as the one who revolutionized landscape gardening in England and who was a friend of Alexander Pope.

Thomas Bridgeman had two sons both of whom made a name in horticulture, Andrew as a plantsman and Alfred as a seedsman.  W. A. Bridgeman, who is responsible for the elegant window displays in the Thos. F. Galvin store on Tremont street, Boston, is a son of Andrew Bridgeman. “Blood will tell.”

View entire
Thomas Bridgeman had a store at 17th Street and Broadway in New York City where he sold seeds.  His seed offerings are artfully included in his publications which are focused on proper growing of the plants.  

  • The Young Gardener’s Assistant (1832)
  • Florist’s Guide (1835)
  • The Kitchen Gardener’s Instructor (1836)
  • Report of the Committee On Horticulture (1844)
  • The Fruit Cultivator’s Manual (1844)
  • The American Gardener’s Assistant (1867)  (completed by his son, Alfred Bridgeman)

His son, on the other hand, has some catalogs on the internet starting with this one from 1871.  There should be earlier ones as his father dies in 1850.  He references his father's business as starting in 1824.



Here is a description of Alfred's business from 1885.

Alfred Bridgeman, Importer, Grower and Dealer In Vegetable, Farm and Flower Seed, No. 37 East 19th Street.— 
Among the old established houses which have been identified with the growth and development of the metropolis and which have kept pace with the improvement and progress of the time, is that of Mr. Alfred Bridgeman, importer, grower and dealer in vegetable, farm and flower seed.  
This business was established in 1824, and has always enjoyed a career of prosperity. The house was for many years located at No. 876 Broadway, and some time ago was removed to the present elegant quarters. The premises now occupied are of modern construction and are artistically finished in a most pleasing manner. 
A large and valuable stock is carried and a business is done which extends to all points in the United States. Mr. Bridgeman is an old resident of this city, and is one of our old time merchants. During a long and busy career he has always maintained the principles of integrity and honorable dealing. He has always taken an active interest in every movement that has for its object the advancement and welfare of his fellow citizens, and is esteemed by all with whom he has had business transactions.    
NEW YORK'S GREAT INDUSTRIES - 1885

More telling of the general history of the business is this article from The Horticulturist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste of 1858 where they were reviewing a new edition of
the Young Gardener's Assistant. 


This is an original work, by the late Mr. Bridgeman, which has long kept its place as a standard book in the gardening world, and, with McMahon's (published in Philadelphia), continues to be the guide to the novice no less than the practiced hand. 
We like to record the success of practical men. In the case of the Messrs. Bridgemans, we find an industrious and thoughtful father successful through a lengthened career, and leaving his sons established in the same business and in the someplace, after his death. 
Nos. 876 and 878 Broadway, New York, are now the property of the two sons, Andrew and Alfred. The seed department is managed by Alfred, and the greenhouses by Andrew Bridgeman, in two well-built stores, with their dwellings above. 
The business was first commenced in 1828, by the father, and continued by him until 1850 (the period of his decease), when the sons erected two four-story houses, well adapted to their objects; the southerly one is devoted to the sale of vegetable, herb, flower, and grass seeds, horticultural books, and garden tools and implements; the walls are plastered on all sides with cement, and the floor is of concrete, making it secure from dampness and the attacks of vermin. In the house devoted to the plant department, the basement is divided into a flower-room for keeping and making-up cut flowers, and a packing-room and general stowage; the store is appropriately fitted up with shelvings, counters, &c, and floored with encaustic tiles; in connection with it is a greenhouse, eighteen feet wide and one hundred and thirty feet long. A neat fountain with gold fishes in the front part, attracts much attention from the Broadway loungers. 
This greenhouse is heated by two of Hitching's hot-water apparatus, advertised in this journal, and which Mr. B. assures us answer admirably. 
The country establishment is at Astoria, where there is a fine propagating house, five greenhouses, two rose-houses, one rose pit, and about forty sashes of frames for violets, pansies, &c. The grounds are ornamented with different varieties of fruit-trees, and are occupied principally in growing roses, ornamental and flowering shrubs, fruit, herbaceous and greenhouse plants, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, &c. &c.  Mr. B. is prepared to execute orders to any amount for forest trees, dwarf pears, &c.
In the city store will be found one of the finest collections of bulbous roots; a number of each kind are potted for those who desire to have them already started —a convenience which many salesmen cannot afford. Here will also be found fancy flower-pots, bulb-glasses, and baskets for flowers, of which latter ornaments they fill innumerable orders during the winter season, as well as hand-bouquets and designs for parties and suppers. The greenhouse in the city is filled with plants suited for private houses during winter, and, in spring, they are replaced with bedding-out plants, for which the establishment is famous throughout the Eastern and Middle States. 
This sketch of the business of two brothers in the heart of New York, realizes an agreeable picture, and is an example of exactly what we like to see. To minds imbued with a love of nature's gifts, and, of course, admirers of the floral world, it would seem to us to afford an amount of enjoyment which few other occupations can give. We record it for the encouragement of those who may now be struggling with economy and industry to found similar establishments elsewhere. There is not a city in our land where equally persevering attention and honesty may not bring like results.




This letterhead is from the 1880s.  It was printed with the date 188_, to be filled in.


The interior of this 1902 catalog is as artistically boring as the cover.  The new century brought the end of the age of great seed catalogs.