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<http://americangardenhistory.blogspot.com/>Early American Gardens


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    * Nurseryman - W Atlee Burpee 1858-1915
    * Rochester, New York Seed Dealer James Vick 1818-1882
    * 18C & early 19C Seed Dealers & Nursery Owners of South Carolina

Nurseryman - W Atlee Burpee 1858-1915

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT
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W. Atlee Burpee–(1858-1915)–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The W. Atlee Burpee & Company was founded by W. 
Atlee Burpee in 1876 in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. Atlee was born in 1858 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

At fourteen years of age, Atlee’s hobby was 
breeding chickens, geese and turkeys. He 
corresponded with poultry experts worldwide and 
wrote scholarly articles in poultry journals. 
With a partner in 1876, the 18 year old Atlee 
started a mail-order chicken business in the 
family home with $1,000 loaned to him by his mother.

Poultry farmers from the Northeast knew of his 
business, and he soon opened a store in 
Philadelphia, selling not only poultry but also 
corn seed for poultry feed. It wasn’t long 
before his customers started requesting cabbage, 
carrot, cauliflower and cucumber seeds.

In 1878, Burpee dropped his partner and founded 
W. Atlee Burpee & Company, mainly for garden 
seeds, but poultry wasn’t dropped from the Burpee catalog until the 1940s.

By 1888, the family home, Fordhook Farms, in 
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was established as an 
experimental farm to test and evaluate new 
varieties of vegetables and flowers, and to produce seeds.

Before World War I, Atlee spent many summers 
traveling through Europe and the United States, 
visiting farms and searching for the best flowers 
and vegetables. Atlee shipped many of the 
vegetables and flowers he found to Fordhook Farms 
for testing. Those plants that survived were bred 
with healthier types to produce hybrids better 
suited to the United States. Fordhook Farms was 
the first laboratory to research and test seeds 
in this way. Fordhook Farms specialized in 
testing onions, beets, carrots, peas and cabbage.

In 1909, Burpee established Floradale Farms in 
Lompoc, California, to test sweet peas, and 
Sunnybrook Farms near Swedesboro, New Jersey 
tested tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and squashes.

In his travels, Atlee met Asa Palmer, a 
Pennsylvania farmer who raised beans, and who 
thought he had one plant that was resistant to 
cutworms. Burpee turned this bean plant into what 
is now known as the Fordhook lima bean, one of 
the company’s most famous items.

Another successful plant was the Golden Bantam 
sweet corn that the farmer William Chambers of 
Greenfield, Massachusetts had grown before his 
death. A friend of Chambers found some of the 
sweet corn seeds and sold Burpee seeds of the 
corn, and in 1902, Golden Bantam was featured in a Burpee catalog.

Before 1900 most people thought that yellow corn 
was fit only for animals, so in order to change 
their customers minds, many farmers slipped 
Golden Bantam corn in with the white corn they 
were selling. Within a few years, people in the 
United States were converted to yellow corn.

Iceberg lettuce was introduced in 1894 and named 
for its crispness. A key in Burpee’s business 
was the 1863 free delivery system, that required 
post offices to deliver mail to residents’ 
homes, and in 1896, free delivery was extended to 
rural areas. This allowed his catalogs to be 
delivered directly to people’s homes.

Thousands of letters were received annually from 
Burpee’s customers thanking him for his seeds. 
Burpee knew that the key to his business was 
advertising and the catalog was his advertising medium.

In his first year of business, his catalog was 48 
pages, but by 1915 his catalogs were 200 pages 
and he distributed a million catalogs. Burpee 
personally wrote most of the copy of his 
catalogs. Burpee set up an advertising department 
and offered cash prizes for the best 
advertisements. This competition is what 
originated the slogan “Burpee Seeds Grow” in 1890.

The 1891 catalog was the first to feature 
engravings made from photographs, and by 1901 
this process was done by machines. Burpee’s 
move to photography changed the whole industry 
and the hand-drawn illustration in catalogs 
disappeared. In another break with tradition, 
Burpee eliminated cultural information and put in 
testimonial letters and plant descriptions.

At Atlee’s death in 1915, the company had 300 
employees, and it was the largest seed company in 
the world. At that time the Burpee company 
distributed over 1 million catalogs a year and received 10,000 orders a day.

<http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html>Information 
from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries research.
.

Rochester, New York Seed Dealer James Vick 1818-1882

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT


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Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873, issued quarterly, pp. 132.

This article was written by seed dealer James 
Vick (1818-1882) of Rochester, New York, 
in  pages 21-24 of Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873.


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  Store Front Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

OUR SEED HOUSE

It is acknowledged that I have the largest and 
best regulated retail Seed House in the 
world.  It is visited by thousands every year 
from all parts of this country, and by many from 
Europe, and 1 take pleasure in exhibiting 
everything of interest or profit to visitors.  As 
hundreds of thousands of my customers will 
probably never have the opportunity of making a 
personal visit, I thought a few facts and 
illustrations would be interesting to this large 
class whom 1 am anxious to please, and be, at 
least, an acknowledgement of a debt of gratitude 
for long continued confi­dence, which I can feel, but not repay.


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Inside the Store Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

Two Catalogues are issued each year, one of Bulbs 
in August, and on the first of December a 
beautiful Floral Guide:, of 130 pages, finely 
illustrated with hundreds of engravings of 
Flowers and plants and colored plates. Last year, 
the number printed was three hundred thousand at 
a cost of over sixty thousand dollars. In 
addition to the ordinary conveniences of a well 
regulated Seed House, there is connected with 
this establishment a Printing Office, Bindery, 
Box Making Establishment, and Artists’ and 
Engravers’ Rooms. Everything but the paper being made in the establishment.


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Vick Store and Processing Center on State Street 
in Rochester, NY 1873 Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide

To do this work fully occupies a building four 
stories in height (besides basement) sixty feet 
in width, and one hundred and fifty feet in 
length, with an addition in the upper story of a 
large room over an entire adjoining block.

BASEMENT

The large basement is arranged with immense 
quantities of drawers, &c., for storing 
Bulbs.  Here, too, are stored the heavier kinds 
of Seeds, in sacks, &c., piled to the 
ceiling.  The heavier packing is also done here.

FIRST FLOOR

The first floor is used entirely as a sales-shop, 
or “store,” for the sale of Seeds, Flowers, 
Plants and all Garden requisites and adornments, 
such as baskets, vases, lawn mowers, lawn tents, 
aquariums, seats, &c., &c.  It is arranged with 
taste, and the songs of the birds, the fragrance 
and beauty of the flowers, make it a most 
delightful spot in which to spend an hour.


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The Order Room Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

SECOND FLOOR

On the second floor is the Business and Private 
Offices, and also the Mail Room in which all 
letters are opened. The opening of letters 
occupies the entire time of two persons, and they 
perform the work with astonishing rapidity – 
practice making perfect – often opening ng three 
thousand in a day.  After these letters are 
opened they are passed into what is called the 
Registering Room, on the same floor, where they 
are divided into States, and the name of the 
person ordering, and the date of the receipt of 
the order registered.  They are then ready to be 
filled, and are passed into a large room, called 
the Order Room, where over seventy-five hands are 
employed, divided into gangs, each set, or gang, 
to a State, half-a-dozen or more being employed 
on each of the larger States.  After the orders 
are filled, packed and directed, they are sent to 
what is known as the Post Office, also on the 
same floor, where the packages are weighed, the 
necessary stamps put upon them, and stamps 
cancelled, when they are packed in Post Office 
bags furnished us by Government, properly labeled 
for the different routes, and sent to the Postal 
Cars.  Tons of Seeds are thus dispatched every day during the business season.


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The Packing Room Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

THIRD FLOOR

Here is the German Department, where all orders 
written in the German language are filled by 
German clerks; a Catalogue in this language being 
published. On this floor, also, all seeds are 
packed, that is, weighed and measured and placed 
in paper bags and stored ready for sale.  About 
fifty persons are employed in this room, 
surrounded by thousands of nicely labeled drawers.

FOURTH FLOOR

On this floor are rooms for Artists and 
Engravers, several of whom are kept constantly 
employed in designing and engraving for 
Catalogues and Chromos. Here, also, the lighter 
seed are stored.  In a large room adjoining, is 
the Printing Office, where the Catalogue is 
prepared, and other printing done, and also the 
Bindery, often employing forty or fifty hands, 
and turning out more than ten thousand Catalogues 
in a day. Here is in use the most improved 
machinery for covering, trimming, &c., propelled by steam.


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The Bindery Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

MISCELLANEOUS

The immense amount of business done may be 
understood by a few facts: Nearly one hundred 
acres are employed, near the city, in growing 
flower seeds mainly, while large importations are 
made from Germany, France, Holland, Australia and 
Japan.  Over three thousand reams of printing 
paper are used each year for Catalogues, weighing 
two hundred thousand pounds, and the simple 
postage for sending these Catalogues by mail is 
thirteen thousand dollars.  Over fifty thousand 
dollars have been paid the Government for postage 
stamps last year.  Millions of bags and boxes are 
also manufactured in the establishment, requiring 
hundreds of reams of paper, and scores of tons of 
paste-board.  The business is so arranged that 
the wrappers are prepared for each State, with 
the name of the State conspicuously printed, thus 
saving a great deal of writing. as well as preventing errors.

I had prepared several other engravings of German 
Room, Printing Office, Artists’ Room, Counting 
Room, Mail Room, Post Office, &c., but have 
already occupied quite enough space give readers 
somewhat of an idea of the character of my 
establishment.  Another year, I may give further particulars.  James Vick


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Seedsman James Vick (1818-1882)

James Vick was one of the merchants who dominated 
the floral nursery industry in New York in the 
19C. James Vick was born in Portsmouth, England 
on Nov. 23, 1818.  In 1833, at the age of 12, he 
arrived in New York City to learn the printing 
trade.   By the time he moved to Rochester, he 
had acquired skills as a printer & writer.

In 1837, he moved with his parents to Rochester, 
New York, where he set type for several 
newspapers & journals. In 1849, James Vick was 
elected corresponding secretary of the Genesee 
Valley Horticultural Society. From 1849 through 
the early 1850s, Vick edited & then bought the 
popular journal The Genesee Farmer in 1855.  He 
later owned part of a workers’ journal and 
helped to found Frederick Douglass’s North Star.


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Vick’s house in 1871

With Vick as editor, the publication became more 
elegant & circulation rapidly increased.  A year 
later he sold out to Joseph Harris.  On the death 
of A. J. Downing, James Vick bought "The 
Horticulturist" & moved it to Rochester in 
1853.  For for 3 years he published this with 
Patrick Barry serving as Editor. It was devoted 
to horticulture, floriculture, landscape gardening, & rural architecture.

About this time, Vick started to grow flowers & 
began sending seeds out by mail to the readers of 
his publication.  Vick also started importing 
seed stock. In 1855, he established a seed store 
& printing house in Rochester for his growing 
mail order business.  In 1856, Vick started 
"Rural Annual and Horticultural Directory".  The 
first half was a seed catalog & the second a list 
of nurserymen.  This was taken over in 1857 by 
Joseph Harris who continued it until 1867.


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Vick's Home on the South Side of East Avenue in Rochester, NY. 1877

With Vick’s knowledge of chromolithography & 
printing, he produce a catalog & later a monthly 
magazine.  The first, "Floral Guide and 
Catalogue" was printed in 1862.  His "Floral 
Guides" provided gardening advice, quality color 
prints, & reached a circulation of 250,000.  He 
entertained his readers with anecdotes, published 
letters he had received, & had a special section for children.

By the 1870s, as many as 150,000 catalogs were 
sent out each year.  A staff of more than 100 
worked in the office & packing house.  There were 
over 75 acres of seed gardens scattered about the 
city.  In 1878, Vick started a paper, "Vick’s 
Illustrated Monthly" which was published by the 
Vick Seed Company in Rochester & in Dansville 
until 1909.  This magazine was sold by 
subscription.  Vick also printed a set of 
chromolithograph prints which were either sold or 
offered as premiums with large orders.


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The Seed House of James Vick 1881 From Commerce, 
Manufactures & Resources of Rochester, NY

Vick was one of the most successful American 
horticultural seedsman, writers, & merchandisers 
of his day.  The Vick Seed Company continued into 
the 20C before being sold to the Burpee Seed Co.

Thanks to the 
<http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html>Smithsonian 
Libraries Biographies of American Seedsmen & Nurserymen


18C & early 19C Seed Dealers & Nursery Owners of South Carolina

Posted: 27 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT
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  Charles Fraser (1782-1860) Golden Groves The 
Seat of Mrs (John) Sommers Stono River. Carolina 
Art Association Gibbes Museum, Charleston, South Carolina.


It is difficult to strike just the right balance 
for a diverse audience of readers. Some are plant 
historians, who want to know precisely what plants are being sold when.

Other readers are interested in the development 
of an industry & its marketing tactics of 
appealing to & changing the needs & desires of 
their customers. Those readers usually don't care 
exactly what is being sold, except as it changes 
from utilitarian to ornamental.

In this posting, I will include more specific 
plant listings. (I will also ask you to return to 
an earlier posting for the basics of seed saving, 
one of the most important ways of having seeds to 
plant the following year for all 18th century gardeners.)

[]
c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Detail of 
Settee on a Hill at Rice Hope Plantation from One 
of the Rice Fields. South Carolina. The Carolina 
Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, 
South Carolina. Dr. Read had been a Surgeon in 
the Continental Line during the Revolution. The 
name Rice Hope was one of the many such hopeful 
combinations; there were also a Silk Hope, a Salt 
Hope & a Brick Hope near the Cooper River.

I want to use the watercolors of Charles Fraser 
to let us feel the South Carolina landscape 
around us as we learn how it was being groomed & 
planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Charles 
Fraser (1782 - 1860 ) we have a chance to see, 
through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he 
was growing up. Although he was primarily known 
his miniature portraits, he also created 
watercolors of historical sites, homes, & 
landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, 
historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of 
Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art 
Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in 
Charleston. I will also include a painting by 
Thomas Corum (1756 – 1811), who taught Charles Fraser to paint.

South Carolina was a world of its own in the 
early 18th century, and it might be interesting 
to compare & contrast the marketing of plants & 
the growth of professional seed & plant dealers 
there with the more northern colonies.

Trading seeds & plants with other gardeners

In warm, nearly tropical South Carolina, 
naturalists Mark Catesby (1682-1749) & John 
Bartram (1699-1777) both visited the intriguing 
colony, increasing botanical awareness in the 
area. Catesby & Bartram took samples of new 
plants they found and traded them with others, on 
both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
John Bartram, the Philadelphia gardener, 
explorer, & botanist, regularly sent plants to 
English merchant & botanist Peter Collinson 
(1649-1768). His famous garden at Mill Hill contained many American plants.


[]
1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Arbor for 
Gatherings. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

South Carolina gardener Martha Logan ((1701-1779) 
carried on a lively correspondence with 
Philadelphia botanist John Bartram. Bartram wrote 
to his English mentor Peter Collinson in May of 
1761, that she was “an elderly widow lady who 
spares no pains on cost to oblige me: her garden 
is her delight and she has a fine one; I was with 
her about 4 minutes in her company yet we 
contracted such a mutual correspondence that one 
silk bag of seed bath repast several times.”

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Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Dr. Alexander Garden (1746-1802), who practiced 
medicine in Charleston, made important 
contributions to plant identification later in 
the 18th century. Garden also traded seeds & 
plants with others interested in botany on both 
sides of the Atlantic. He is most remembered for 
the gardenia named in his honor by Linnaeus, the 
Swedish botanist who established the modern system of plant classification.

Everyday gardeners, gentry & common folk, traded 
both useful & ornamental seeds & plants with each 
other regularly throughout the 18th century in South Carolina.

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Charles Fraser (1782-1860) 1803 Richmond, the 
Seat of Edward Rutledge in St. John's Parish. The 
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, 
Charleston, South Carolina. The Richmond house 
stood on a hill overlooking the Eastern branch of 
the Cooper River. It had belonged to Colonel John 
Harleston, one of the oldest Cooper River 
families. From him it had passed to his daughter 
Jane Smith Harleston, the wife of Edward 
Rutledge, whom she married in 1794. The house at 
Richmond is one of the most typical Low Country 
plantation houses sketched by Fraser. The high 
foundation of masonry, the two stories of wood, 
the high hipped roof, the single piazza with its 
wide brick stairway flanked by ramps of the same 
material that flare out at the ground into 
cylindrical newels-all these repeat themselves 
endlessly through the Low Country, with only 
minor local variations.(Mixup in converting slide 
to jpg caused house to reverse, sorry.)

Ordering seeds & plants from English factors

Whether planting their lands for necessity or 
pleasure, early South Carolina gardeners were 
initially bound to write back to England for 
gardening manuals and for many of the specific 
plants and seeds they were familiar with from 
their mother country. But soon commercial seed 
dealers and nursery owners began importing plants 
to sell directly to South Carolina gardeners.

Many South Carolina gardeners ordered their seeds 
directly from England. In the December 19, 1754, 
issue of the South Carolina Gazette, Captain 
Thomas Arnott noted that he brought a box of 
“Tulip, Narcissus, and other Flower Roots” 
from England “supposed to have been ordered by 
some person of this province” and that the 
“person that can properly claim them, may have them.”

Newspaper advertisements, broadsides, & estate 
inventories give a fairly accurate reflection of 
the seeds & plants early South Carolina gardeners 
purchased in the marketplace before 1820. The 
South Carolina Gazette was Charleston’s first 
newspaper commencing publication in January 1732. 
Most early seed dealers used this newspaper as a 
vehicle for marketing their wares.

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30 May 2, 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). The 
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Buying seeds from ships arriving in South Carolina

The earliest seed dealer advertising there was 
Samuel Everleigh, although his ads weren’t 
specific. In the December of 1732 issue, he 
offered for sale “divers sorts of best Garden 
seeds,” and 3 years later in December of 
1736/7, Everleigh again advertised, “Garden 
seeds fresh and good.” On March 29-April 6, 
1739, he offered “Grass and Garden Seeds.”

When young Charles Pinckney opened his “new 
store on the Bay” in the 1740s, he advertised 
“garden seeds Just imported from London” in 
the South Carolina Gazette. His competitor, 
Robert Pringle, whose store was also “on the 
Bay” advertised garden seeds imported from London.

In 1748, Frederick Merckley & Thomas Shute 
advertised for sale “sundry sorts of Garden 
Seeds” which were imported from Philadelphia 
rather than London. However, England remained the 
dominant source for plant stuffs.

Samuel Came fist appeared in the February 12, 
1753 issue of the South Carolina Gazette 
declaring that he had “Imported from London, an 
assortment of useful garden seed, some flower 
roots and seeds, Windsor and kidney beans, dwarf, 
marrow-fat and Ormond Hotspur Peas.” Came 
advertised again in the January 1764 issue that 
he had “a assortment of Garden Seeds, flower roots, etc.”

The domestic commercial sale of plants continued 
to grow in popularity. In January 1764, Thomas 
Young advertised in the South Carolina Gazette 
that he had imported, “A greet Variety of 
kitchen-garden and flower Seeds, which are very 
fresh, having had a short passage; which, with 
some flower roots, eta. he will salt reasonably, 
at his house at the west-end of Broad-street.”

In the December issue of the same year, Young was 
about to move from his house, and he advertised 
“a parcel of seeds to dispose of cheap; also 
some shrubs, trees, roots, etc. among which are a 
great number of Cork, walnut, with some chestnut 
and almond trees, with squill and other medical roots and seeds.”


John Edwards came to South Carolina, from New 
York, in 1764. He advertised in the March 3, 
1764, South Carolina Gazette that he brought with 
him “a large collection of English garden and 
flower seed” which he had raised himself.

In January of 1765, Lloyd & Neyle advertised that 
they had just imported from London and Bristol 
“garden seeds and flower roots, amongst which 
are the best orange carrots Turkey renunculas 
roots, Dutch tulips, fine anemones, double poppies, double larkspur.”

In March of 1791, Charles McDonald at 186 Meeting 
Street advertised “Fresh Garden Seed, a SMALL 
assortment of Flower and other GARDEN SEED, Just imported from London.”

In the 1803 Charleston Courier, Tait, Wilson & Co 
advertised: "Early Chariton Peas, London 
Cauliflower, Dwarf Marrowfat do., Early Cabbage 
Lettuce Coss, Early Frame do.,Cabbegge of all 
sorts, Crown, Transparent, and White and Black 
Mustard, Tail Sugar do., Solid Celery, Dwarf 
White Kidney Beans, Curled Parsley, Canary and 
Rape Seeds, Green Curled Endive, Early ad 
Imperial York, Long Prickley Cucumber, Cabbage, 
Red Beet, Early Sugar-loaf do., Large Norfolk 
Turnip, Drumhead do., Round Spinnage, Green 
Glazed do., Portugal Onion, Battersea do., Garden 
Cress, Cornish York do., Salmon Reddish, Early 
Penton Cabbage, Scarlet Salmon Reddish, Red 
Pickling do., Short Top do., Early Purple 
Brocoll, Turnips do., Late do., Naples do., 
Siberian do., London Leek, White do., Choux de 
Milan, Large Green Savoy, Brussels Sprouts, Dwarf 
do, White Scariat Runners, Yellow do."

In the next year, Simmons & Sweeny, at the corner 
of East Bay & Broad Streets, advertised in the 
January of 1804, issue of the Charleston Courier, 
“JUST received and for sale by the subscribers 
a few bundles FRUIT TREES, of the best quality; 
each containing twenty-four TREES, 1 Honey 
CHERRY, 1 Amber do., 1 Early White Nutmeg Peach, 
1 Green do., 1 Early red, or rare ripe do., 2 
large yellow Lemon clingstone do., 1 White 
Blossom do., 1 English Swalsh, (or Nectarine), 1 
Green Catherine do., 1 Late October Clingstone 
do., 1 Red Pine Apple do., 1 Early black Damask 
Plumbs, 1 Magnum Bonum, or Yellow Egg Apple, 1 
large Early Harvest do., 1 large Red Spitzenburgh 
do., 1 Fall Pippin do., 1 Newton do., 1 Early 
Sugar Pear, 1 Jergonel, or large flavored Summer 
do., 1 Vergeline or fine Melting Fell do, 1 Almond, 1 Nectarine, 1 Apricot."


J. F. Gennerick, who was selling seeds at 150 
King Street advertised in the Charleston Courier 
on June 18, 1807: “ELEGANT FLOWER ROOTS, 
RANUNCULUS, Antimonies, Imperical Manager, Blue 
unbellated Crechum, The Striped Lilly, Scarlet 
Caledonian do., Double Scarlet do., Dotted 
Arcadian do., The Two Stage Martagon, Variegated 
Colechicums, Double do., Broad leafed Poncratium, 
Purple Fiemanthus, Geurnsey Lilly.”

[]
1800 View of Mulberry, House and Street, Thomas 
Coram (1756 – 1811), The Carolina Art Association 
Gibbes Musseum of Art, Charleston, South 
Carolina. This is the earliest known depiction of 
a plantation house with rows of single-room slave 
cabins leading to the powerful owner's house.


Buying directly from local plantation & nursery owners in South Carolina

In the September, 1745 issue of the South 
Carolina Gazette, Richard Lake advertised for 
sale at his plantation on the Ashley River, 
“Lemon Trees with Lemons on them, in boxes, 
Lime Trees and Orange Trees in Boxes, and several 
curious Plants in Pots, also variety of young 
Fruit Trees, particularly white Mulberry and Orange Trees.”

In January of 1749, Lake advertised his entire 
plantation for sale in the South Carolina 
Gazette. He used his large & diverse orchard & 
kitchen gardens as an advertising enticement. He 
stated that it had a very large garden both for 
pleasure and profit. It contained all sorts of 
fruit trees consisting of many thousands, a great 
deal of fine asparagus, and all kinds of 
kitchen-garden stuff, a young nursery with a 
great number of grafted pear and apple trees, 
thousands of orange trees, and several lemon and 
lime trees in tubs and boxes, with fruit on them.

[]
Rose Hill c 1820. Unidentified artist. Charleston 
Museum, South Carolina. Home owned by Nathaniel 
Heyward (1766-1851) & his wife Henrietta 
Manigault (1769-1827), the rice plantation Rose 
Hill on the Combhee River was home to 152 slaves. 
Rose Hill is also illustrated in the marginialia 
of the diary of their son Charles (1802-1866) 
which is at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston.

Importing experimental plants into South Carolina

During the 1770s-1780s grapes were becoming a 
popular item in both South Carolina & Georgia, 
where a friendly competition was growing between the neighbors.

The March 1772, issue of the South Carolina 
Gazette announced, “Yesterday also arrive here, 
with Captain John Turner, the ship Carolina 
Packet, from London…30,000 plants of Vines 
producing true Champagne and Burgundy GGrapes, 
procured by the Assiduity of Mr. Masnil de St. 
Pierre (from the French settlement at Longcanes, 
called now New-Bourdeaux) who has received great 
encouragement in London, to perfect his scheme of 
making wines in the province, and obtained from 
the Society of Arts a Gold Medal.”

By the 1750s Benjamin Franklin had his hand in 
potential domestic wine production. The May 1, 
1783 issue of the Gazette in Savannah noted, 
“Sometime ago Dr. Franklin sent to South 
Carolina nine vine dressers from Burgundy, and 
1,200,000 sets of plants of vines, to try whether 
those plants would thrive there. Our merchants do not wish they may.”

[]
  Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

On September 29, 1774 the South Carolina Gazette 
was carrying news of another experimental plant. 
Aaron Loocock was promoting & selling the dying 
root madder. “Those Gentlemen who chose to make 
Trial of this valuable and profitable article may 
depend on not being disappointed of Plants, if 
they order them in Time, either delivered at my 
Plantation at Goose Creek, or to any of their 
friends at Charles-Town, at Five Pounds a 
Thousand. Printed directions, from experiences in 
this Province, will be given.”

Evidently Looncook’s were successful, for 
almost 20 years later in the June 21, 1794 issue 
of the Augusta Chronicle and Gazette his 
“printed directions” appeared under this 
introduction “As the soil and climate of this 
country is said to be well adapted to the 
cultivation of that valuable dying-root, Madder, 
and as the planting, mercantile, and 
manufacturing interest of the United States may 
be very much benefited by its cultivation: I make 
no doubt but that a publication of the following 
observations on it will be very 
acceptable…written twenty years ago,, by a gentleman in South Carolina…”<

On January 9, 1796 in the City Gazette and the 
Daily Advertiser, Robert Day offered for sale 
“To Lovers of Improvement Five to Six Hundred 
LOMBARDY POPLAR TREES, one year old, from ten to 
sixteen feet high they are the first in America 
of their age or kind. Also, Two Hundred PLANTS of 
the large purple sweet WATER GRAPE, One Box, 
containing Two or Three Hundred PLANTS of the 
large Cork ASPARAGUS, two years old."

[]
Jacques Burkhardt (1818-1867). Home of Gabriel Manigault.


Emerging professional gardeners, seed dealers & 
nursery owners in South Carolina

Just as it had in the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South, 
the method of selling seeds & plants changed 
dramatically in South Carolina at the end of the 
century. However, in South Carolina, the change 
began well before the American Revolution. The 
growth of urban economies gave rise to new 
commercial gardening ventures, nurseries & seed 
stores, operated by professional gardeners who 
initially imported & then grew their own seed & plant stock.

Plant Dealer & Garden Writer Martha Logan


Martha Logan (1701-1779) first advertised her 
gardening wares in November 1753 in the South 
Carolina Gazette. She offered for sale “seeds, 
flower roots, and fruit stones at her house” on 
the Green, near Trotts Point. Martha Logan was 
the daughter of Robert Daniell, Landgrove and 
Deputy Governor of South Carolina. She was born 
December 29, 1704, and married George Logan, Jr. 
on July 30, 1719. Widowed by 1741, she was 
keeping a boarding school for children where they 
would be “carefully taught to read, write, 
dance and work several kinds of needle-work” in 
a “pleasant, airy situation” on the green 
near Mrs. Trott’s point. But her first love was gardening.

Martha Logan wrote a “Gardener’s Kalendar” 
that appeared until well past the turn of the 
19th century in various almanacs. In the March 
14, 1768, South Carolina Gazette she advertised 
seed imported from London: “A Fresh assortment 
of very good garden seeds and flower roots, with 
flowering shrubs and box edging beds, now growing 
in her garden.” Her notice establishes that box 
was used for edging in pre-Revolutionary gardens.

[]
1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View from Mr. 
Fraser’s City Residence from untitled 
sketchbook, The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. 
Apparently Fraser lived on King Street with his widowed mother.

Gardener & Plant Dealer John Watson

One of the most important working gardeners & 
seed dealers of the last half of the 18th-century 
in South Carolina was John Watson. He came to the 
province seeking work as a gardener from London 
in 1755. By December 10, 1763 he advertised in 
the South Carolina Gazette that he had imported 
from London, “a proper assortment of garden 
seed, flower roots, me, which he will sell reasonably.”

In 1764, when John Laurens built his "large, 
elegant brick house of sixty feet by 
thirty-eight," with piazzas on the south & east 
sides overlooking the marshes & Cooper River. He 
& Martha Laurens created a 600' by 450' 
brick-walled botanical garden, containing such 
exotics as orange, olive, lime, capers, ginger 
and guinea grass, with the aid of John Watson.

By September of 1765, Watson advertised an 
expanded line of garden wares advertised in the 
South Carolina Gazette. Beside garden seeds and 
flower roots, he offered “…a great collection 
of fruit trees, Of all kinds, which have been 
grafted and budded from the best fonts in the 
province, with a great variety of English grape vines.”

On February 4, 1778, Watson added clover seeds to 
his offerings. By the November issue of the South 
Carolina Gazette for the same year, he noted for 
sale “a great variety of Tulips, hyacinths, 
lilies, anemanies, ranuculuses, double jonquils” as well as asparagus roots.

His wares became more exotic by his November 28, 
1776, notice in the South Carolina Gazette, 
Watson offered for sale “Sweet Almonds, 
Filberts, English Quinces, Olives, China double 
flowering Peaches, Almonds and Pomegranates.”

On January 1, 1778 his ad in the South Carolina 
and American General Gazette offered “Hazel 
Nuts Nutmeg, Myrtle flowering Trees….Magnolia 
or Laurels fit for Avenues, etc. any height from three to twenty, Artichoke.”

John Watson’s last notice appeared in February 
of 1789, when he offered “seedling cassenas for 
hedges, tallow trees for exportation.” In March 
1789, John Watson died. His sons James Mark and 
John ran the nursery, until young John left South 
Carolina in 1802, finally selling “Watson’s Gardens.”

[]
c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Rice Hope 
Taken from One of the Rice Fields. South 
Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Gardener William Bennet

Another gardener who came from England to South 
Carolina seeking work was William Bennet. In his 
initial ad for public work in the South Carolina 
and American General Gazette on May 13, 1771, he 
also noted “Seed to be sold,” which he had 
apparently brought with him from England. In the 
October 1, 1778, issue of the same publication he 
was still offering unspecified garden seeds for sale.

In in 1786 & 1787, someone claiming to represent 
Peter Crouwells, a well-known Philadelphia 
florist, who had immigrated from Holland, 
advertised in the South Carolina Gazette on 
December 11, 1786, “for sale, an extensive 
variety of the most rare and curious Bulbous 
Flowers, Roots & Seeds, which have never appeared 
in this country before they are just imported 
from Amsterdam…the most choice sorts of 
Hyacinths, double Jonquiillea, Polyanthos, 
Narcissusses, Tarcetts, Tulips, double Tuberoses, 
Pasetouts, Carnations, with a great variety of 
double Ranunculas and Anemonies, a sort of Rose 
Bushes, etc.” Ladies and Gentlemen could get a 
catalogue giving the names and colors of all the Bulbous Flowers.

In February of 1790, “John Chalvin & Co. 
Florists and Gardeners, from France” announced 
that they had brought “from France a great 
variety of Seed and Plants or flowering trees, 
lilly roots, jacinths, and crow feet of the 
scarcest and prettiest qualities; rose bushes of 
different colours; es also a great variety of pot 
and herbs seeds” which they had for sale at a 
very moderate price at No. 8 Elliott-street.

[]
1800. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Brabants on 
French Quarter Creek, The Seat of the Late Bishop 
Smith. South Carolina. The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, 
South Carolina. This plantation lies on French 
Quarter Creek, a tributary of the Eastern Branch 
of the Cooper River. The original grant to 
Francis Pagett in 1704, was later joined a tract 
granted in 1709 to Daniel Brabant, a surgeon 
whose name became that of the plantation. It 
amounted to 3,000 acres, when Elizabeth Pagett 
married the Reverend Robert Smith, rector of St. 
Philip’s Church in Charles Town. He became the 
1st Bishop of the State of South Carolina, and 
was the First Principal of the college of 
Charleston, where Charles Fraser was one of the students.

Gardener & Plant Dealer John Bryant

John Bryant was an English gardener who arrived 
in South Carolina, sometime before his 1794 
marriage to Jane Thornton in St. Phillip’s 
Parish in Charleston. He first advertised in the 
City Gazette and the Daily Advertiser on June 6, 
1795 as a gardener for hire, but also noted that, 
“like wise imports, on commission, all kinds of 
trees, shrubs and seeds, either useful or 
ornamental, from England, Philadelphia and New York.”

By his April 15, 1796 notice in the City Gazette 
and the Daily Advertiser, Bryant was importing 
seed for speculation rather than commission, 
“just Imported, a small assortment of seeds.” 
Bryant gained confidence in his buying public as 
the years passed, and by the December 15, 1807 
issue of the Charleston Courier, he was 
advertising, “A QUANTITY of FRUIT TREES, 
FLOWERING SHRUBS and PLANTS, of the most esteemed 
for quality and beauty. The Fruit Trees consist 
of Peaches, Nectarines, Pears, Cherries, Plumbs 
and Quinces, of the largest size ever imported, 
for their age, into this state.”

In 1807, Bryant eventually became the Clerk of 
Market Hall, where many plants & seeds were sold 
& exchanged; but in the fall of 1808, Bryant 
died. His wife Jane kept the garden operating 
into the spring of the next year. She advertised 
in the February 13 issue of the Charleston Times 
“For sale at the late John Bryant’s Garden, 
upper end of King Street - grafted Peach, 
Nectarine, Apricot, Plum and Apple Trees; Pride 
of India…Pine Apple plantsâ…Geranium, and other 
Green House Plants.” She did not advertise again.

But it seems that someone bought Bryant's store & 
stock. The Charleston Times of January 16, 1811, 
announced the opening of a new seed store King 
Street. The unidentified proprietor advertised: 
“New Seed and Plant Store, Wholesale and retail 
200...220 KING STREET RECEIVED from London an 
extensive assortment of choice Garden, Field, 
Flower and Bird Seeds, the growth of 1810. Also, 
by the ship Minerva, from New York, a large 
supply of fresh American SEEDS, together with the 
former Stock of fresh Seeds on hand, making the 
most complete and extensive assortment of Seeds 
ever offered for sale in this city. On hand, a 
large assortment of inoculated FRUIT TREES, among 
which are all the most approved kinds of Peach, 
Pear, Apple, Cherry, Plum, soft shelled Almond, 
Dwarf Pear, Dwarf Apple; Fruit and Flowering 
Shrubs, Red and White Antwerp Raspberry, that 
gives remarkable large Fruit, Red and White 
Currant, English yellow Jesamine, Lilach, with a 
large assortment of Plants, Garden Tools, Flower 
Pots, Hyacinth Glasses, Bulbous Roots, Split 
Pease, Oat Meal, Flour or Mustard, Etc.”

[]
c 1799. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View of a 
South Carolina Plantation Barn. The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Botanist, Nusreryman, Gardener, & Writer Robert Squibb

Robert Squibb, botanist, nurseryman, gardener, 
and writer, had published his catlogue-style 
book, The gardener's calendar, for 
South-Carolina, Georgia, and North-Carolina: 
Containing an account of work necessary to be 
done in the kitchen and fruit gardens every month 
in the year, with instructions for performing the 
same. Also particular directions relative to soil 
and situation, adapted to the different kinds of 
plants and trees most proper for cultivation in 
these states. He called himself a nursery and 
seedsman of Charleston, South-Carolina. The book 
was printed by Samuel Wright and Co. for R. 
Squibb, and recorded in the secretary of state's 
office, agreeable to the act of Assembly. (Price six shillings.), in 1787.

Squibb had announced his upcoming book with no 
undue modesty in the Charleston Evening Gazette 
of July 4, 1786. He declared that his patrons 
needed a gardening book to fit their particular 
coastal climate, and English books only mislead them with their instructions.

Squibb offered seeds for sale in the newspaper on 
August 19, 1795 in an issue of the City Gazette 
and Daily Advertiser, “THE Subscriber, after 
many years practice in this state, is fully 
convinced that garden seeds saved here are much 
better than those imported and does hereby 
forewarn his friends and customers against 
depending on foreign seeds, in particular such as 
onion, leek, carrot, parsnips, parsley, celery, 
lettuce, endive and spinage.”

In 1801 Squibb advertised using much the same 
technique in the Augusta Chronicle and Gazette of 
the State of Georgia on March 14: “GARDEN 
SEEDS. THE Subscriber having taken up his 
residence in Augusta, as Market Gardener, and the 
saving of Seeds being a branch of his profession, 
intends from time to time, both to import and 
save seeds of the very best kinds."

Squibb declared that he was offering his services 
& plants out of a sense of public responsibility, 
"He considers it a duty he owes to himself and 
fellow citizens, to remind them of the numberless 
impositions that for some years past have taken 
place in this city, by sale of garden seeds, 
which from their age of the inexperience of the 
collectors, have either not vegetated or else 
produced a degenerated offspring, by which the 
public have been much discouraged in the 
cultivation of gardens. To remedy this evil he 
offers for sale a small assortment of SEEDS collected from his own plants."

However, in 1802, Squibb was back in Charleston 
at his old garden. Squibb called his garden and 
nursery, “The Botanic Garden.” In the June 8 
1802, issue of the Charleston Times, he 
advertised, “that he has imported from London, 
a small assortment of GARDEN SEEDS, in excellent 
order. Also a few kinds of Seeds on his own 
saving, equal to any ever saved in this state. 
Market Gardeners may be supplied with London 
Salmon Redish Seed, at one dollar per pound.”

Robert Squibb died on April 22, 1806 at Silk Hope 
Plantation near Savannah, Georgia, and was buried 
there. However, an ad for the “Botanic 
Garden” appeared in the Charleston Courier on 
November 2, 1812, “At the Botanic Garden. A 
variety of Elegant PLANTS, Such as Liqusiriniums, 
Geraniums, Cleroaedrems, Rosa Multifloras, double 
and white Oleanders, Flowering Heaths, Laurustkius.”

[]
Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Gardener & Seed Dealer Charles Gross

Charles Gross was a gardener on King Street in 
the 1790 Charleston City Directory, who bought a 
lot for his garden in Hampstead in 1792. From 
there he continued to work as a gardener and sold 
seeds until his death in 1802.

Gardener & Seedsman Edward Otter
Edward Otter was another gardener & seedsman from 
England who brought garden seeds, peach trees, 
and Lombardy poplars with him when he came to Charleston In 1803.

[]
1803. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Entrance to 
Ashley Hall near Charleston, South Carolina. The 
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, 
Charleston, South Carolina. The 2nd Royal 
Governor William Bull inherited Ashley Hall in 
1755. A medical doctor, he never wavered in his 
loyalty to his King. He left with the British in 
1782, dying in London 9 years later. His will 
states: “I William Bull the late Governour of 
South Carolina for his Britanic Majestiy do …my 
worldly goods greatly deranged and lessened in 
value not by my Fault but by some unexpected 
contingencies I have met from peculiar situations 
wherein I have been placed during the late 
unhappy times in America…my plantation on 
Ashley River in Carolina where my Grandfather 
lived died and lies buried where my Father and 
all his children were born I wish to remain in 
the possession of one of his Posterity I 
therefore give to my nephew William his heirs…”

John Foy's Seed Store
John Foy’s Seed Store at 184 Meeting Street was 
especially active in 1810. In the November 14, 
1810 issue of the Charleston Times he placed this 
notice: "A General Assortment of Choice Garden 
Flower, and Bird SEEDS FLOWER POTS, and some 
excellent APPLE TREES: ASPARAGIS-Gravesend; 
BEANS-Long Pod, Mangan, Windsor; BEET-Green, 
Blood Pled; BROCOLO-Purple, White; BURNET; 
CABBAGE-Early York, Heart Shaped, Sugar Loaf, 
early and later Battersea, Drum Head, Red Dutch, 
Green Glazed, Bergin, Green Savoy; CARROT-Early 
Mom, Orange, Yellow; CAULIFLOWER-Early and Late; 
CELERY-Solid, Italian, Chardoon, Chervil: 
CUCUMBER-Early Frame, Shod Prickly, Long Green 
roman: ENDIVE-Green Curled, White Curled, Broad 
Leaf or Bataivian; BEANS-Bush, China, Liver, 
Yellow, Refugee, RUNNERS-Scarlet, White; 
LEIUCE-Impoerial, Grand Admirable, Tennis Ball; 
ONIONS-Silver Skin, Large White. Red; LEEKS; 
PARSLEY-Double and single; PARSNIPS:PEASE- Early 
Frame, Golden Hospur, Early Charlton, Dwarf 
Marrowfat, Pearl and Prusian; Radish-Early Frame 
Salmon; White and Red do., White and Red Turnip, 
Saisafy, Sanzonara, Sorrel; SPINACH-assorted; 
TURNIP-assorted; BIRD SEEDS-Canary, Hopp, Maw, 
Rape; HERB SEEDS-assorted; FLOWER SEEDS-assorted; 
a few TULIPS and HYACINTHS; Assortment of most 
approved PEAR and APPLE TREES. JOHN FOY expects 
some PEACH and PEAR TREES, and also some APPLE 
TREES from the Botanic Garden, New-York."

By his December 24, 1810 ad in the same paper Foy 
added, “A HANDSOME assortment of FRUIT TREES."

[]
c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Mepkin, The 
Seat of Henry Laurens, Esq., near Charleston, 
South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association 
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. 
Mepkin was comprised 3,000 acres. John Colleton 
of England, sold Mepkin in 1762, to Henry 
Laurens. After the destruction of the house 
during the Revolution, Henry Laurens built this 
one in which Henry Laurens, Jr. was living at the 
time of the sketch. As the latter had married a 
daughter of John Rutledge, Fraser was again among relatives.

Gardeners, Plant Dealers, & Botanists John Fraser & Sons

John Fraser & his son James were gardeners, 
botanists, & seed dealers active in Charleston 
from the 1780s, until James’ death in 1819. 
James remained in South Carolina during his 
father’s various returns to England.

In the Columbian Herald of December 17, 1795, 
James Placed the following advertisement. "GARDEN 
Seeds, JAMES FRASER, UP THE PATH. Has received 21 
John Praiser, Nursery and Seedsman of Sloan 
Square, Chelsea, near London, per the ship 
Roebuck, A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF CULINARY SEEDS."

In the December 6, 1808, Charleston Times, the 
following notice appeared, “FRASER & SON HAVE 
received by the schooner Blazing-Star from 
New-York, several hundred handsome PEACH, 
NECTARINE and APRICOT TREES a few handsome FLOWERS, SHRUBS, AND PLANTS.”
The June 1, 1806, issue of the Times carried a 
notice that, “Fraser & Son, Have imported from 
London, A GENERAL assortment of GARDEN and FLOWER 
SEEDS, which will be warranted as genuine, and all of the crop of 1808."

In 1810, they advertised, "A variety of English 
Garden & Flower Seeds; Flowers; Flower Pots; and 
a few rare Plants, the proper of Mr. John Fraser, 
botanist, having finished his collection of 
American plants. The seeds will be put up in 
convenient lots, for the accommodation of the 
purchaser. Any Ladies or Gentlemen who wish to be 
supplied annually with warranted Garden, 
Agricultural or Flower Seeds, and Roots, or 
choice Fruit Trees, will please send their orders 
to the said office, or address them to Messrs. 
MASERS & SONS Sloan Square, Chelsea, London."

[]
c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Mepkin, The 
Seat of Henry Laurens, Esq., near Charleston, 
South Carolina.The Carolina Art Association 
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

William Dobbs Seed & Plant Store


William Dobbs operated a Seed & Plant Store at 
315 King street. He advertised in the December 2, 
1811 edition of the Charleston Times: "For sale 
at wholesale and retail, an extensive assortment 
of Choice Garden Flowers and Bird seeds, the 
growth of 1811. Also, a great variety of Double 
Flowering Hyacinths; double, single, parrot and 
sweet scented Tulips; Renunculus’s: Ixia 
Crocata; Persian Iris, white and yellow 
Narcissus; Gladiolius, Garden Tools, Flower Pors, 
Hyacinth Glasses. Upwards of 4000 Inoculated 
Fruit Trees, among which are all the most 
approved kinds of Apple; Pear, cherry, Plum, 
Peach, Apricot, Nectarine, Hughe’s Crab, 
Chinese, and Syberian Apple, soft shelled Almond. 
Quince, Goosebery, red white and black Currant, 
Filbert Nut, Antwerp Rapsberry. Ornamental Trees 
and Shrubs - doable flowering Peach, Cherry, and 
Almond, spired Fruitrix, Mountain Ash, English 
yellow Jessamine, dwarf variegated Althed, 
Venetian Shumach, Guilder Rose, Burgundy and Moss do. Balm of Gilead Fir."

Unfortunately, Dobbs died in the fall of 1812. 
His inventory of December 3, 1812, gives a 
glimpse of the property owned by the seeds: 
“Rose Apple Trees, Rosemary, Squills, Double 
Tube Roses, Amaryths, Peach Trees, 40 Canary 
Birds, Seeds, Bird Seed, shovels, spades, bird 
cages, pees, 2 green Houses and glasses, garden 
tools, Glasses for Roots, Shelves of Jars with 
Seeds in them Double Seeds Box”

In October 1812, Dobbs property was put up at 
auction through ads in the October 13 and 22 
editions of the Charleston Courier. “All the 
Personal Estate and Stock in Trade of WM. DOBBS, 
late of Charleston, Seedsman, deceased; 
consisting of a variety of elegant and choice 
Plants and Shrubs, in boxes and pots, various 
kinds of Seeds and Roots; Gardening Utensils; a 
variety of empty Flower Pots; an assorting of 
Crockery Ware: together with his elegant 
collection of Singing Birds; consisting of Canary 
and Mocking Birds; a Glass Case, containing 
stuffed Birds; empty Bird Cages; a few Botanical 
Books; Also, his two Green Houses with sashes. 
ALSO Several hundred choice Fruit Trees, now in the ground.”


[]
  Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Philippe Stanislaus Noisette (1772-1835) Nurseryman & Seed Dealer

Another gardener & seedsman active in Charleston 
in the same period was Philippe S. Noisette. 
Philippe was a member of a distinguished family 
of nursery owners who had been gardeners to 
French nobles. He first moved from Paris to 
Haiti, when he was a young man and fell in love 
with a dark-skinned Haitian woman whose name was 
Celestine. In 1794, because of the Haitian slave 
revolution, he & Celestine relocated to 
Charleston, where he was offered a position as 
Superintendent of the South Carolina Medical Society Botanical Gardens.

He was especially interested in the production of 
sugar cane & ran this ad in the November 14, 1814 
edition of the Courier. "P.S.NOISETTE begs leave 
to inform the Planters of south Carolina that he 
has successfully cultivated, for some pears past, 
in his garden at Romney Village, opposite Mr. 
Turpires farm, the Sugar Cane; and that he has at 
this moment canes form which Sugar may be 
extracted. In consequence of this great 
advantages likely to be drived to this state, 
from this valuable plant, he offers cuttings for 
sale, to such as which to increase their wealth, 
and that of their country, et the rate of Five 
Dollars for a hundred buds, or eyes."
"He has also in his garden, a great quantity of 
FRUIT TREES, grafted by himself of the best kinds 
from Europe; such as different kinds of Peaches, 
Nectarines, Apricots, Plumbs, Pears, Apples, Figs 
and Grapes; as well as many foreign, Ornamental 
Trees, Shrubs and Plants. Also for sale, a 
collection of garden SEEDS, FLOWER SEEDS & FLOWER."

Philip Noisette's personal life was as 
interesting as his professional accomplishments. 
Because of the miscegenation laws of South 
Carolina, Philippe was forced to declare his 
wife, Celestine, his slave. They had 6 children 
who also became his slaves. The 1830 Federal 
Census recorded him as a single white man owning 
eight slaves, who are believed to be his wife & 
at least five of his six children.

In 1821 Charleston, records show that Phillipe 
Stanislaus Noisette, "Botanist of Charleston," 
stated that "under peculiar circumstances" he 
became "the Father of Six children, begotten upon 
his faithful Slave named Celestine." For many 
years it had been his intention to free his 
family, but the "passage of the late Law upon 
this subject" prompted him to seek their freedom 
now by the passage of a legislative act.

Shortly before his death, in 1835, Philippe 
petitioned the state of South Carolina for the 
emancipation of his faithful wife, now his slave, 
Celestine & their six children. Philippe died 
without knowing the results of his petition. 
Philippe’s family was in fact later emancipated 
and allowed to secure their inheritance & remain 
in the state of South Carolina.

In 1859, the South Carolina House of 
Representatives was petitioned to let the 
"mulatto" children of Philip Stanislas Noisette 
remain in South Carolina, as free persons of 
color. By his will Noisette had directed that the 
children, born of his enslaved wife, Celeste, be 
removed to some other country, where they would 
be free. The children, however, were "attached to 
the laws of the County, and very unwilling to remove."

Intrigue also followed Noisette's botanical 
accomplishments. An 1889 journal on botany 
reported the following information, "The Noisette 
Rose is a daughter of America. She was born one 
day in the garden of a brave citizen of 
Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. John Champney. It 
was obtained by fertilizing a Musk Rose, Rosa 
Moschata, by pollen from the China or Bengal 
Rose. Botanists called the new creation Rosa 
Moschata hybrida, and Rosa champneyana 
indifferently. But after awhile the name was 
superseded by that of Rosa Noisettiana in this 
way: At Charleston there lived a gardener named 
Philip Noisette, who was of French origin. This 
man fertilized one of Champney's hybrids, 
Champney's Pink Cluster, and getting from it 
another variety sent it in 1814 to Louis Freres, 
of Paris. The Rose became rapidly famous, and the 
name of Noisette replaced the first name of 
Champney, for the new race... The flowers of the 
Noisette are highly fragrant; they are numerous, 
double, and charm by the variety and delicacy of 
their colors." John Champneys, who lived 
southwest of Charleston, was an import-export 
merchant, whose trade was so successful, that he 
had his own wharves on Johns Island.

[]
  c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). The Seat 
of James Fraser, Esq., Goose Creek, South 
Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. James 
Fraser was the older brother of Charles. The house was called Wigton.

Comparison of seed dealers & nursery owners in 
South Carolina & the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South

The pattern established by the growing South 
Carolina seed & nursery trade is similar to that 
of the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South, but there are 
some significant differences. In the extended 
Chesapeake region, gardeners & plant dealers 
dedicated to promoting & selling plants found 
their most secure footing after the Revolution.

Female Pennsylvania & South Carolina nursery 
owners & seed merchants successfully began 
selling both useful & ornamental plants decades 
before the Revolution. In South Carolina, much 
seed & plant material was imported from England, 
both before & after the Revolution.

In the Chesapeake, the earliest seed merchants & 
nursery owners, appearing after the Revolution, 
were from France & Germany. After the war, Dutch 
bulbs & roots found their way into South Carolina 
as well; and itinerant French seed merchants also 
peddled their wares in Charleston, but English 
nursery proprietors continued to own the majority of Carolina businesses.

In both regions, English gardeners & nursery 
owners came to dominate the local seed & nursery 
trade by the turn of the century. Both Chesapeake 
& Carolina garden entrepreneurs offered a full 
range of stock from greenhouse plants to seeds 
for field crops, from traditional medicinal herbs 
to fragrant shrubs by the beginning of the first decade of the 19th-century.

Seed merchants & nursery owners in both areas 
aggressively advertised their services & stock 
(at both retail and wholesale prices) in regional 
newspapers, & sometimes offered free printed 
catalogues to prospective clients. Gardeners in 
both regions sold seeds & plants at their 
nurseries & stores; at local farmers’ markets; 
and through agents at various locations throughout their regions.

Gardeners from both regions sold seeds & plants 
imported from Philadelphia & New York, as well as 
those from their local suppliers. A new 
nationwide network of capitalistic nursery & seed 
business was nipping at the heels of traditional 
garden barter exchanges in the Mid-Atlantic, 
Upper South, & South Carolina as the 19th-century dawned over the horizon.

[]
  1803. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). A Bason & 
Storehouse Belonging to the Santee Canal in South 
Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. This 
was the storehouse at Simpson's Lock on the canal 
between the Santee & Cooper Rivers..

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<h1><b><a href="http://americangardenhistory.blogspot.com/">Early
American Gardens</a> </b></h1><hr>

<ul>
<li><a href="#1">Nurseryman - W Atlee Burpee 1858-1915</a> 
<li><a href="#2">Rochester, New York Seed Dealer James Vick 1818-1882</a> 
<li><a href="#3">18C & early 19C Seed Dealers & Nursery Owners of
South Carolina</a> 
</ul><br>
<a name="1"></a>Nurseryman - W Atlee Burpee<a name="1"></a> 1858-1915
<br><br>
Posted: 29 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT<br>
.<br>
<b>W. Atlee Burpee–(1858-1915)–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<br><br>
The W. Atlee Burpee & Company was founded by W. Atlee Burpee in 1876
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Atlee was born in 1858 in New Brunswick,
New Jersey. <br><br>
At fourteen years of age, Atlee’s hobby was breeding chickens, geese
and turkeys. He corresponded with poultry experts worldwide and wrote
scholarly articles in poultry journals. With a partner in 1876, the 18
year old Atlee started a mail-order chicken business in the family home
with $1,000 loaned to him by his mother. <br><br>
Poultry farmers from the Northeast knew of his business, and he soon
opened a store in Philadelphia, selling not only poultry but also corn
seed for poultry feed. It wasn’t long before his customers started
requesting cabbage, carrot, cauliflower and cucumber seeds. <br><br>
In 1878, Burpee dropped his partner and founded W. Atlee Burpee &
Company, mainly for garden seeds, but poultry wasn’t dropped from the
Burpee catalog until the 1940s. <br><br>
By 1888, the family home, Fordhook Farms, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania,
was established as an experimental farm to test and evaluate new
varieties of vegetables and flowers, and to produce seeds. <br><br>
Before World War I, Atlee spent many summers traveling through Europe and
the United States, visiting farms and searching for the best flowers and
vegetables. Atlee shipped many of the vegetables and flowers he found to
Fordhook Farms for testing. Those plants that survived were bred with
healthier types to produce hybrids better suited to the United States.
Fordhook Farms was the first laboratory to research and test seeds in
this way. Fordhook Farms specialized in testing onions, beets, carrots,
peas and cabbage. <br><br>
In 1909, Burpee established Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California, to
test sweet peas, and Sunnybrook Farms near Swedesboro, New Jersey tested
tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and squashes. <br><br>
In his travels, Atlee met Asa Palmer, a Pennsylvania farmer who raised
beans, and who thought he had one plant that was resistant to cutworms.
Burpee turned this bean plant into what is now known as the Fordhook lima
bean, one of the company’s most famous items. <br><br>
Another successful plant was the Golden Bantam sweet corn that the farmer
William Chambers of Greenfield, Massachusetts had grown before his death.
A friend of Chambers found some of the sweet corn seeds and sold Burpee
seeds of the corn, and in 1902, Golden Bantam was featured in a Burpee
catalog. <br><br>
Before 1900 most people thought that yellow corn was fit only for
animals, so in order to change their customers minds, many farmers
slipped Golden Bantam corn in with the white corn they were selling.
Within a few years, people in the United States were converted to yellow
corn. <br><br>
Iceberg lettuce was introduced in 1894 and named for its crispness. A key
in Burpee’s business was the 1863 free delivery system, that required
post offices to deliver mail to residents’ homes, and in 1896, free
delivery was extended to rural areas. This allowed his catalogs to be
delivered directly to people’s homes. <br><br>
Thousands of letters were received annually from Burpee’s customers
thanking him for his seeds. Burpee knew that the key to his business was
advertising and the catalog was his advertising medium. <br><br>
In his first year of business, his catalog was 48 pages, but by 1915 his
catalogs were 200 pages and he distributed a million catalogs. Burpee
personally wrote most of the copy of his catalogs. Burpee set up an
advertising department and offered cash prizes for the best
advertisements. This competition is what originated the slogan “Burpee
Seeds Grow” in 1890. <br><br>
The 1891 catalog was the first to feature engravings made from
photographs, and by 1901 this process was done by machines. Burpee’s
move to photography changed the whole industry and the hand-drawn
illustration in catalogs disappeared. In another break with tradition,
Burpee eliminated cultural information and put in testimonial letters and
plant descriptions. <br><br>
At Atlee’s death in 1915, the company had 300 employees, and it was the
largest seed company in the world. At that time the Burpee company
distributed over 1 million catalogs a year and received 10,000 orders a
day.<br><br>
<a href="http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html">
Information from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries research.<br>
</a></b>.<br><br>
<a name="2"></a>Rochester, New York Seed Dealer James
Vick<a name="2"></a> 1818-1882 <br><br>
Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qbUXNEiPDKI/U7ignX9CLQI/AAAAAAABvYU/g3NGgwtiRQw/s1600/vickscover.jpg">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qbUXNEiPDKI/U7ignX9CLQI/AAAAAAABvYU/g3NGgwtiRQw/s1600/vickscover.jpg" width=936 height=1454 alt="[]">
</a><br>
<b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873</b>, issued quarterly, pp.
132.<br><br>
This article was written by seed dealer James Vick (1818-1882) of
Rochester, New York, in  pages 21-24 of <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral
Guide for 1873</b>.<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zcUGuPxewxU/U7iaCwog0EI/AAAAAAABvXk/gHAeYUOrgoA/s1600/v2+Store+Front+1873.jpg">
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zcUGuPxewxU/U7iaCwog0EI/AAAAAAABvXk/gHAeYUOrgoA/s1600/v2+Store+Front+1873.jpg" width=944 height=706 alt="[]">
</a><br>
 Store Front Wood engraving from <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide
for 1873<br><br>
<i>OUR SEED HOUSE<br><br>
It is acknowledged that I have the largest and best regulated retail Seed
House in the world.  It is visited by thousands every year from all
parts of this country, and by many from Europe, and 1 take pleasure in
exhibiting everything of interest or profit to visitors.  As
hundreds of thousands of my customers will probably never have the
opportunity of making a personal visit, I thought a few facts and
illustrations would be interesting to this large class whom 1 am anxious
to please, and be, at least, an acknowledgement of a debt of gratitude
for long continued confi­dence, which I can feel, but not
repay.<br><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L4J018g1mZw/U7iZoQRgPBI/AAAAAAABvXU/npP9c6Oa9Ko/s1600/v3+Inside+of+Vick's+Store+1873.jpg">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L4J018g1mZw/U7iZoQRgPBI/AAAAAAABvXU/npP9c6Oa9Ko/s1600/v3+Inside+of+Vick's+Store+1873.jpg" width=944 height=734 alt="[]">
</a></i></b><br>
Inside the Store Wood engraving from <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide
for 1873<br><br>
<i>Two Catalogues are issued each year, one of Bulbs in August, and on
the first of December a beautiful Floral Guide:, of 130 pages, finely
illustrated with hundreds of engravings of Flowers and plants and colored
plates. Last year, the number printed was three hundred thousand at a
cost of over sixty thousand dollars. In addition to the ordinary
conveniences of a well regulated Seed House, there is connected with this
establishment a Printing Office, Bindery, Box Making Establishment, and
Artists’ and Engravers’ Rooms. Everything but the paper being made in
the establishment.<br><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jJZkMHkbt7c/U7iZ1oFtQcI/AAAAAAABvXc/l9-hQ867K_4/s1600/v1+Vick+Store+and+Processing+Center+on+State+Street+in+Rochester,+NY+1873.jpg">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jJZkMHkbt7c/U7iZ1oFtQcI/AAAAAAABvXc/l9-hQ867K_4/s1600/v1+Vick+Store+and+Processing+Center+on+State+Street+in+Rochester,+NY+1873.jpg" width=944 height=887 alt="[]">
</a></i></b><br>
Vick Store and Processing Center on State Street in Rochester, NY 1873
Wood engraving from <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide</b> <br><br>
<b><i>To do this work fully occupies a building four stories in height
(besides basement) sixty feet in width, and one hundred and fifty feet in
length, with an addition in the upper story of a large room over an
entire adjoining block.<br><br>
BASEMENT<br><br>
The large basement is arranged with immense quantities of drawers,
&c., for storing Bulbs.  Here, too, are stored the heavier kinds
of Seeds, in sacks, &c., piled to the ceiling.  The heavier
packing is also done here.<br><br>
FIRST FLOOR<br><br>
The first floor is used entirely as a sales-shop, or “store,” for the
sale of Seeds, Flowers, Plants and all Garden requisites and adornments,
such as baskets, vases, lawn mowers, lawn tents, aquariums, seats,
&c., &c.  It is arranged with taste, and the songs of the
birds, the fragrance and beauty of the flowers, make it a most delightful
spot in which to spend an hour.<br><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s4vM7z4QWzo/U7iafAmz45I/AAAAAAABvXs/Rb7xl49-s8g/s1600/v4+The+Order+Room+1873.jpg">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s4vM7z4QWzo/U7iafAmz45I/AAAAAAABvXs/Rb7xl49-s8g/s1600/v4+The+Order+Room+1873.jpg" width=944 height=727 alt="[]">
</a></i></b><br>
The Order Room Wood engraving from <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for
1873<br><br>
<i>SECOND FLOOR<br><br>
On the second floor is the Business and Private Offices, and also the
Mail Room in which all letters are opened. The opening of letters
occupies the entire time of two persons, and they perform the work with
astonishing rapidity – practice making perfect – often opening ng three
thousand in a day.  After these letters are opened they are passed
into what is called the Registering Room, on the same floor, where they
are divided into States, and the name of the person ordering, and the
date of the receipt of the order registered.  They are then ready to
be filled, and are passed into a large room, called the Order Room, where
over seventy-five hands are employed, divided into gangs, each set, or
gang, to a State, half-a-dozen or more being employed on each of the
larger States.  After the orders are filled, packed and directed,
they are sent to what is known as the Post Office, also on the same
floor, where the packages are weighed, the necessary stamps put upon
them, and stamps cancelled, when they are packed in Post Office bags
furnished us by Government, properly labeled for the different routes,
and sent to the Postal Cars.  Tons of Seeds are thus dispatched
every day during the business season.<br><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C5_HgG8mCSA/U7iatm6zE1I/AAAAAAABvX0/-kXs_Jhwplo/s1600/v5+The+Packing+Room+1873.jpg">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C5_HgG8mCSA/U7iatm6zE1I/AAAAAAABvX0/-kXs_Jhwplo/s1600/v5+The+Packing+Room+1873.jpg" width=944 height=723 alt="[]">
</a></i></b><br>
The Packing Room Wood engraving from <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide
for 1873<br><br>
<i>THIRD FLOOR<br><br>
Here is the German Department, where all orders written in the German
language are filled by German clerks; a Catalogue in this language being
published. On this floor, also, all seeds are packed, that is, weighed
and measured and placed in paper bags and stored ready for sale. 
About fifty persons are employed in this room, surrounded by thousands of
nicely labeled drawers.<br><br>
FOURTH FLOOR<br><br>
On this floor are rooms for Artists and Engravers, several of whom are
kept constantly employed in designing and engraving for Catalogues and
Chromos. Here, also, the lighter seed are stored.  In a large room
adjoining, is the Printing Office, where the Catalogue is prepared, and
other printing done, and also the Bindery, often employing forty or fifty
hands, and turning out more than ten thousand Catalogues in a day. Here
is in use the most improved machinery for covering, trimming, &c.,
propelled by steam.<br><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PvmPeJfyAKU/U7ia7Tbki9I/AAAAAAABvX8/ityA4iWOiwU/s1600/v6+The+Bindery+1873.jpg">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PvmPeJfyAKU/U7ia7Tbki9I/AAAAAAABvX8/ityA4iWOiwU/s1600/v6+The+Bindery+1873.jpg" width=944 height=709 alt="[]">
</a></i></b><br>
The Bindery Wood engraving from <b>Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for
1873<br><br>
<i>MISCELLANEOUS<br><br>
The immense amount of business done may be understood by a few facts:
Nearly one hundred acres are employed, near the city, in growing flower
seeds mainly, while large importations are made from Germany, France,
Holland, Australia and Japan.  Over three thousand reams of printing
paper are used each year for Catalogues, weighing two hundred thousand
pounds, and the simple postage for sending these Catalogues by mail is
thirteen thousand dollars.  Over fifty thousand dollars have been
paid the Government for postage stamps last year.  Millions of bags
and boxes are also manufactured in the establishment, requiring hundreds
of reams of paper, and scores of tons of paste-board.  The business
is so arranged that the wrappers are prepared for each State, with the
name of the State conspicuously printed, thus saving a great deal of
writing. as well as preventing errors.<br><br>
I had prepared several other engravings of German Room, Printing Office,
Artists’ Room, Counting Room, Mail Room, Post Office, &c., but have
already occupied quite enough space give readers somewhat of an idea of
the character of my establishment.  Another year, I may give further
particulars.  James Vick<br><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-72r9eQA3SN4/U7if7PDtbqI/AAAAAAABvYM/n-AfLJuKMvo/s1600/Seedsman+James+Vick+(1818-1882).jpg">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-72r9eQA3SN4/U7if7PDtbqI/AAAAAAABvYM/n-AfLJuKMvo/s1600/Seedsman+James+Vick+(1818-1882).jpg" width=600 height=820 alt="[]">
</a></i></b><br>
Seedsman James Vick (1818-1882)<br><br>
James Vick was one of the merchants who dominated the floral nursery
industry in New York in the 19C. James Vick was born in Portsmouth,
England on Nov. 23, 1818.  In 1833, at the age of 12, he arrived in
New York City to learn the printing trade.   By the time he
moved to Rochester, he had acquired skills as a printer &
writer.<br><br>
In 1837, he moved with his parents to Rochester, New York, where he set
type for several newspapers & journals. In 1849, James Vick was
elected corresponding secretary of the Genesee Valley Horticultural
Society. From 1849 through the early 1850s, Vick edited & then bought
the popular journal The Genesee Farmer in 1855.  He later owned part
of a workers’ journal and helped to found Frederick Douglass’s North
Star.<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7fYaor5WacU/U7ihUmmCvEI/AAAAAAABvYc/ecBAUV947gY/s1600/v7+Vick%E2%80%99s+house+in+1871.jpg">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7fYaor5WacU/U7ihUmmCvEI/AAAAAAABvYc/ecBAUV947gY/s1600/v7+Vicks+house+in+1871.jpg" width=944 height=591 alt="[]">
</a><br>
Vick’s house in 1871<br><br>
With Vick as editor, the publication became more elegant &
circulation rapidly increased.  A year later he sold out to Joseph
Harris.  On the death of A. J. Downing, James Vick bought "The
Horticulturist" & moved it to Rochester in 1853.  For for 3
years he published this with Patrick Barry serving as Editor. It was
devoted to horticulture, floriculture, landscape gardening, & rural
architecture.<br><br>
About this time, Vick started to grow flowers & began sending seeds
out by mail to the readers of his publication.  Vick also started
importing seed stock. In 1855, he established a seed store & printing
house in Rochester for his growing mail order business.  In 1856,
Vick started "Rural Annual and Horticultural Directory". 
The first half was a seed catalog & the second a list of
nurserymen.  This was taken over in 1857 by Joseph Harris who
continued it until 1867.<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LS-6NzYTNIg/U7ihhp8zs5I/AAAAAAABvYk/Txw13Z8gVgM/s1600/v8+Vick's+Home+on+the+South+Side+of+East+Avenue+in+Rochester,+NY.+1877..jpg">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LS-6NzYTNIg/U7ihhp8zs5I/AAAAAAABvYk/Txw13Z8gVgM/s1600/v8+Vick's+Home+on+the+South+Side+of+East+Avenue+in+Rochester,+NY.+1877..jpg" width=944 height=525 alt="[]">
</a><br>
Vick's Home on the South Side of East Avenue in Rochester, NY.
1877<br><br>
With Vick’s knowledge of chromolithography & printing, he produce a
catalog & later a monthly magazine.  The first, "Floral
Guide and Catalogue" was printed in 1862.  His "Floral
Guides" provided gardening advice, quality color prints, &
reached a circulation of 250,000.  He entertained his readers with
anecdotes, published letters he had received, & had a special section
for children.<br><br>
By the 1870s, as many as 150,000 catalogs were sent out each year. 
A staff of more than 100 worked in the office & packing house. 
There were over 75 acres of seed gardens scattered about the city. 
In 1878, Vick started a paper, "Vick’s Illustrated Monthly"
which was published by the Vick Seed Company in Rochester & in
Dansville until 1909.  This magazine was sold by subscription. 
Vick also printed a set of chromolithograph prints which were either sold
or offered as premiums with large orders.<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sCIILl-rQPY/U7ihxEu35JI/AAAAAAABvYs/RlvxckF_Z-g/s1600/v9+The+Seed+House+of+James+Vick+1881+From+Commerce,+Manufactures+&+Resources+of+Rochester,+NY.jpg">
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sCIILl-rQPY/U7ihxEu35JI/AAAAAAABvYs/RlvxckF_Z-g/s1600/v9+The+Seed+House+of+James+Vick+1881+From+Commerce,+Manufactures+&+Resources+of+Rochester,+NY.jpg" width=944 height=573 alt="[]">
</a><br>
The Seed House of James Vick 1881 From <b>Commerce, Manufactures &
Resources of Rochester, NY<br><br>
</b>Vick was one of the most successful American horticultural seedsman,
writers, & merchandisers of his day.  The Vick Seed Company
continued into the 20C before being sold to the Burpee Seed Co. <br><br>
Thanks to the
<a href="http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html">
Smithsonian Libraries Biographies of American Seedsmen & Nurserymen
</a><br><br>
<br>
<a name="3"></a>18C & early 19C Seed Dealers & Nursery Owners of
South Carolina <br><br>
Posted: 27 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT<br>
.<br>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5ZdOK18hNI/AAAAAAAAOkY/tC2Ycpod5N8/s1600-h/Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+Golden+Groves+The+Seat+of+Mrs+(John)+Sommers+Stono+River.jpg">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5ZdOK18hNI/AAAAAAAAOkY/tC2Ycpod5N8/s400/Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+Golden+Groves+The+Seat+of+Mrs+(John)+Sommers+Stono+River.jpg" width=400 height=260 alt="[]">
</a><b> Charles Fraser (1782-1860) Golden Groves The Seat of Mrs
(John) Sommers Stono River. Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum,
Charleston, South Carolina.<br><br>
<br>
</b>It is difficult to strike just the right balance for a diverse
audience of readers. Some are plant historians, who want to know
precisely <i>what</i> plants are being sold <i>when</i>.<br><br>
Other readers are interested in the development of an industry & its
marketing tactics of appealing to & changing the needs & desires
of their customers. Those readers usually don't care exactly what is
being sold, except as it changes from utilitarian to ornamental.<br><br>
In this posting, I will include more specific plant listings. (I will
also ask you to return to an earlier posting for the basics of <b>seed
saving</b>, one of the most important ways of having seeds to plant the
following year for all 18th century gardeners.)<br><br>
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5Lqu35aPqI/AAAAAAAAOZY/yR_5v8JxMG8/s400/25x+c+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Detail+of+Settee+on+a+Hill+at+Rice+Hope+Plantation+from+One+of+the+Rice+Fields.+South+Carolina.++The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+).jpg" width=400 height=231 alt="[]">
<b>c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Detail of Settee on a Hill at Rice
Hope Plantation from One of the Rice Fields. South Carolina. The Carolina
Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. Dr.
Read had been a Surgeon in the Continental Line during the Revolution.
The name Rice Hope was one of the many such hopeful combinations; there
were also a Silk Hope, a Salt Hope & a Brick Hope near the Cooper
River.<br><br>
</b>I want to use the watercolors of Charles Fraser to let us feel the
South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed
& planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Charles Fraser (1782 -
1860 ) we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens
there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature
portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, &
landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer,
& politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the
Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston. I
will also include a painting by Thomas Corum (1756 – 1811), who taught
Charles Fraser to paint.<br><br>
South Carolina was a world of its own in the early 18th century, and it
might be interesting to compare & contrast the marketing of plants
& the growth of professional seed & plant dealers there with the
more northern colonies.<br><br>
<b>Trading seeds & plants with other gardeners<br><br>
</b>In warm, nearly tropical South Carolina, naturalists <b>Mark Catesby
(1682-1749)</b> & <b>John Bartram (1699-1777)</b> both visited the
intriguing colony, increasing botanical awareness in the area. Catesby
& Bartram took samples of new plants they found and traded them with
others, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.<br>
John Bartram, the Philadelphia gardener, explorer, & botanist,
regularly sent plants to English merchant & botanist Peter Collinson
(1649-1768). His famous garden at Mill Hill contained many American
plants.<br><br>
<br>
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LrJU6cr3I/AAAAAAAAOZg/xAi4RnNGxmM/s400/21x+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Arbor+for+Gatherings.+Carolina+Art+Association.+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=264 alt="[]">
<b>1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Arbor for Gatherings. The Carolina
Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.
<br><br>
</b>South Carolina gardener <b>Martha Logan ((1701-1779)</b> carried on a
lively correspondence with Philadelphia botanist John Bartram. Bartram
wrote to his English mentor Peter Collinson in May of 1761, that she was
<b>“an elderly widow lady who spares no pains on cost to oblige me: her
garden is her delight and she has a fine one; I was with her about 4
minutes in her company yet we contracted such a mutual correspondence
that one silk bag of seed bath repast several times.” <br><br>
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5Lrrve87nI/AAAAAAAAOZo/GVImAh7yAYk/s400/19x+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+The+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina.+(3).jpg" width=400 height=264 alt="[]">
Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of
Art, Charleston, South Carolina.<br><br>
Dr. Alexander Garden (1746-1802),</b> who practiced medicine in
Charleston, made important contributions to plant identification later in
the 18th century. Garden also traded seeds & plants with others
interested in botany on both sides of the Atlantic. He is most remembered
for the gardenia named in his honor by Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who
established the modern system of plant classification.<br><br>
Everyday gardeners, gentry & common folk, traded both useful &
ornamental seeds & plants with each other regularly throughout the
18th century in South Carolina.<br><br>
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5Lpi4YxHOI/AAAAAAAAOZQ/tHhlcerZFCM/s400/17x+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+1803+Richmond,+the+Seat+of+Edward+Rutledge+in+St.+Johns+Parish.+The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=246 alt="[]">
<b>Charles Fraser (1782-1860) 1803 Richmond, the Seat of Edward Rutledge
in St. John's Parish. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art,
Charleston, South Carolina. The Richmond house stood on a hill
overlooking the Eastern branch of the Cooper River. It had belonged to
Colonel John Harleston, one of the oldest Cooper River families. From him
it had passed to his daughter Jane Smith Harleston, the wife of Edward
Rutledge, whom she married in 1794. The house at Richmond is one of the
most typical Low Country plantation houses sketched by Fraser. The high
foundation of masonry, the two stories of wood, the high hipped roof, the
single piazza with its wide brick stairway flanked by ramps of the same
material that flare out at the ground into cylindrical newels-all these
repeat themselves endlessly through the Low Country, with only minor
local variations.(Mixup in converting slide to jpg caused house to
reverse, sorry.)<br><br>
Ordering seeds & plants from English factors <br><br>
</b>Whether planting their lands for necessity or pleasure, early South
Carolina gardeners were initially bound to write back to England for
gardening manuals and for many of the specific plants and seeds they were
familiar with from their mother country. But soon commercial seed dealers
and nursery owners began importing plants to sell directly to South
Carolina gardeners.<br><br>
Many South Carolina gardeners ordered their seeds directly from England.
In the December 19, 1754, issue of the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b>,
Captain Thomas Arnott noted that he brought a box of <b>“Tulip,
Narcissus, and other Flower Roots”</b> from England <b>“supposed to
have been ordered by some person of this province”</b> and that the
<b>“person that can properly claim them, may have them.”<br><br>
</b>Newspaper advertisements, broadsides, & estate inventories give a
fairly accurate reflection of the seeds & plants early South Carolina
gardeners purchased in the marketplace before 1820. The <b>South Carolina
Gazette</b> was Charleston’s first newspaper commencing publication in
January 1732. Most early seed dealers used this newspaper as a vehicle
for marketing their wares.<br><br>
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5L189WfmdI/AAAAAAAAOa4/XMxbzz5EwXQ/s400/30+May+2,+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+The+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=269 alt="[]">
<b>30 May 2, 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). The Carolina Art
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.<br><br>
Buying seeds from ships arriving in South Carolina<br><br>
</b>The earliest seed dealer advertising there was <b>Samuel
Everleigh</b>, although his ads weren’t specific. In the December of
1732 issue, he offered for sale <b>“divers sorts of best Garden
seeds,”</b> and 3 years later in December of 1736/7, Everleigh again
advertised, <b>“Garden seeds fresh and good.”</b> On March 29-April
6, 1739, he offered <b>“Grass and Garden Seeds.”<br><br>
</b>When young <b>Charles Pinckney</b> opened his <b>“new store on the
Bay</b>” in the 1740s, he advertised “garden seeds Just imported from
London” in the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b>. His competitor, <b>Robert
Pringle</b>, whose store was also <b>“on the Bay”</b> advertised
garden seeds imported from London.<br><br>
In 1748, <b>Frederick Merckley & Thomas Shute</b> advertised for sale
<b>“sundry sorts of Garden Seeds”</b> which were imported from
Philadelphia rather than London. However, England remained the dominant
source for plant stuffs.<br><br>
<b>Samuel Came</b> fist appeared in the February 12, 1753 issue of the
<b>South Carolina Gazette</b> declaring that he had <b>“Imported from
London, an assortment of useful garden seed, some flower roots and seeds,
Windsor and kidney beans, dwarf, marrow-fat and Ormond Hotspur
Peas.”</b> Came advertised again in the January 1764 issue that he had
<b>“a assortment of Garden Seeds, flower roots, etc.”<br><br>
</b>The domestic commercial sale of plants continued to grow in
popularity. In January 1764, <b>Thomas Young</b> advertised in the
<b>South Carolina Gazette</b> that he had imported, <b>“A greet Variety
of kitchen-garden and flower Seeds, which are very fresh, having had a
short passage; which, with some flower roots, eta. he will salt
reasonably, at his house at the west-end of Broad-street.”<br><br>
</b>In the December issue of the same year, Young was about to move from
his house, and he advertised <b>“a parcel of seeds to dispose of cheap;
also some shrubs, trees, roots, etc. among which are a great number of
Cork, walnut, with some chestnut and almond trees, with squill and other
medical roots and seeds.”<br><br>
<br>
John Edwards</b> came to South Carolina, from New York, in 1764. He
advertised in the March 3, 1764, South Carolina Gazette that he brought
with him <b>“a large collection of English garden and flower
seed”</b> which he had raised himself.<br><br>
In January of 1765, <b>Lloyd & Neyle</b> advertised that they had
just imported from London and Bristol<b> “garden seeds and flower
roots, amongst which are the best orange carrots Turkey renunculas roots,
Dutch tulips, fine anemones, double poppies, double larkspur.”<br><br>
</b>In March of 1791, <b>Charles McDonald</b> at 186 Meeting Street
advertised <b>“Fresh Garden Seed, a SMALL assortment of Flower and
other GARDEN SEED, Just imported from London.”<br><br>
</b>In the 1803 <b>Charleston Courier</b>, <b>Tait, Wilson & Co</b>
advertised: "<b>Early Chariton Peas, London Cauliflower, Dwarf
Marrowfat do., Early Cabbage Lettuce Coss, Early Frame do.,Cabbegge of
all sorts, Crown, Transparent, and White and Black Mustard, Tail Sugar
do., Solid Celery, Dwarf White Kidney Beans, Curled Parsley, Canary and
Rape Seeds, Green Curled Endive, Early ad Imperial York, Long Prickley
Cucumber, Cabbage, Red Beet, Early Sugar-loaf do., Large Norfolk Turnip,
Drumhead do., Round Spinnage, Green Glazed do., Portugal Onion, Battersea
do., Garden Cress, Cornish York do., Salmon Reddish, Early Penton
Cabbage, Scarlet Salmon Reddish, Red Pickling do., Short Top do., Early
Purple Brocoll, Turnips do., Late do., Naples do., Siberian do., London
Leek, White do., Choux de Milan, Large Green Savoy, Brussels Sprouts,
Dwarf do, White Scariat Runners, Yellow do."<br><br>
</b>In the next year, <b>Simmons & Sweeny</b>, at the corner of East
Bay & Broad Streets, advertised in the January of 1804, issue of the
<b>Charleston Courier</b>, <b>“JUST received and for sale by the
subscribers a few bundles FRUIT TREES, of the best quality; each
containing twenty-four TREES, 1 Honey CHERRY, 1 Amber do., 1 Early White
Nutmeg Peach, 1 Green do., 1 Early red, or rare ripe do., 2 large yellow
Lemon clingstone do., 1 White Blossom do., 1 English Swalsh, (or
Nectarine), 1 Green Catherine do., 1 Late October Clingstone do., 1 Red
Pine Apple do., 1 Early black Damask Plumbs, 1 Magnum Bonum, or Yellow
Egg Apple, 1 large Early Harvest do., 1 large Red Spitzenburgh do., 1
Fall Pippin do., 1 Newton do., 1 Early Sugar Pear, 1 Jergonel, or large
flavored Summer do., 1 Vergeline or fine Melting Fell do, 1 Almond, 1
Nectarine, 1 Apricot."</b> <br><br>
<br>
<b>J. F. Gennerick,</b> who was selling seeds at 150 King Street
advertised in the <b>Charleston Courier</b> on June 18, 1807:
<b>“ELEGANT FLOWER ROOTS, RANUNCULUS, Antimonies, Imperical Manager,
Blue unbellated Crechum, The Striped Lilly, Scarlet Caledonian do.,
Double Scarlet do., Dotted Arcadian do., The Two Stage Martagon,
Variegated Colechicums, Double do., Broad leafed Poncratium, Purple
Fiemanthus, Geurnsey Lilly.”<br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5Lluh-1SaI/AAAAAAAAOZA/Bz5KFzU82wc/s400/1800+View+of+Mulberry,+House+and+Street,+Thomas+Coram+(American,+1756++1811),+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=271 alt="[]">
1800 View of Mulberry, House and Street, Thomas Coram (1756 – 1811), The
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Musseum of Art, Charleston, South
Carolina. This is the earliest known depiction of a plantation house with
rows of single-room slave cabins leading to the powerful owner's
house.<br><br>
<br>
Buying directly from local plantation & nursery owners in South
Carolina<br><br>
</b>In the September, 1745 issue of the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b>,
<b>Richard Lake</b> advertised for sale at his plantation on the Ashley
River, <b>“Lemon Trees with Lemons on them, in boxes, Lime Trees and
Orange Trees in Boxes, and several curious Plants in Pots, also variety
of young Fruit Trees, particularly white Mulberry and Orange
Trees.”<br><br>
</b>In January of 1749, Lake advertised his entire plantation for sale in
the <b>South Carolina Gazette.</b> He used his large & diverse
orchard & kitchen gardens as an advertising enticement. He stated
that it had a very large garden both for pleasure and profit. It
contained all sorts of fruit trees consisting of many thousands, a great
deal of fine asparagus, and all kinds of kitchen-garden stuff, a young
nursery with a great number of grafted pear and apple trees, thousands of
orange trees, and several lemon and lime trees in tubs and boxes, with
fruit on them.<br><br>
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LhzqlLtzI/AAAAAAAAOY4/zRXXFhfCyrs/s400/Rose+Hill+c+1820.+Unidentified+artist.+Charleston+Museum,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=214 alt="[]">
<b>Rose Hill c 1820. Unidentified artist. Charleston Museum, South
Carolina. Home owned by Nathaniel Heyward (1766-1851) & his wife
Henrietta Manigault (1769-1827), the rice plantation Rose Hill on the
Combhee River was home to 152 slaves. Rose Hill is also illustrated in
the marginialia of the diary of their son Charles (1802-1866) which is at
the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston.<br><br>
Importing experimental plants into South Carolina<br><br>
</b>During the 1770s-1780s grapes were becoming a popular item in both
South Carolina & Georgia, where a friendly competition was growing
between the neighbors.<br><br>
The March 1772, issue of the<b> South Carolina Gazette</b> announced,
<b>“Yesterday also arrive here, with Captain John Turner, the ship
Carolina Packet, from London…30,000 plants of Vines producing true
Champagne and Burgundy GGrapes, procured by the Assiduity of Mr. Masnil
de St. Pierre (from the French settlement at Longcanes, called now
New-Bourdeaux) who has received great encouragement in London, to perfect
his scheme of making wines in the province, and obtained from the Society
of Arts a Gold Medal.”<br><br>
</b>By the 1750s Benjamin Franklin had his hand in potential domestic
wine production. The May 1, 1783 issue of the <b>Gazette </b>in Savannah
noted, <b>“Sometime ago Dr. Franklin sent to South Carolina nine vine
dressers from Burgundy, and 1,200,000 sets of plants of vines, to try
whether those plants would thrive there. Our merchants do not wish they
may.”<br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5PFiswaB-I/AAAAAAAAOdY/UfAiLGaTt2w/s400/24x+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+The+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=261 alt="[]">
 Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.<br><br>
</b>On September 29, 1774 the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b> was carrying
news of another experimental plant. <b>Aaron Loocock</b> was promoting
& selling the dying root madder. <b>“Those Gentlemen who chose to
make Trial of this valuable and profitable article may depend on not
being disappointed of Plants, if they order them in Time, either
delivered at my Plantation at Goose Creek, or to any of their friends at
Charles-Town, at Five Pounds a Thousand. Printed directions, from
experiences in this Province, will be given.”<br><br>
</b>Evidently Looncook’s were successful, for almost 20 years later in
the June 21, 1794 issue of the <b>Augusta Chronicle and Gazette</b> his
<b>“printed directions”</b> appeared under this introduction <b>“As
the soil and climate of this country is said to be well adapted to the
cultivation of that valuable dying-root, Madder, and as the planting,
mercantile, and manufacturing interest of the United States may be very
much benefited by its cultivation: I make no doubt but that a publication
of the following observations on it will be very acceptable…written
twenty years ago,, by a gentleman in South Carolina…”</b><<br><br>
On January 9, 1796 in the <b>City Gazette and the Daily Advertiser,</b>
<b>Robert Day</b> offered for sale <b>“To Lovers of Improvement Five to
Six Hundred LOMBARDY POPLAR TREES, one year old, from ten to sixteen feet
high they are the first in America of their age or kind. Also, Two
Hundred PLANTS of the large purple sweet WATER GRAPE, One Box, containing
Two or Three Hundred PLANTS of the large Cork ASPARAGUS, two years
old."<br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LhXSlYbjI/AAAAAAAAOYw/h_HmKzKXDz8/s400/Jacques+Burkhardt+(1818-1867).+Home+of+Gabriel+Manigault.jpg" width=400 height=256 alt="[]">
Jacques Burkhardt (1818-1867). Home of Gabriel Manigault.<br><br>
<br>
Emerging professional gardeners, seed dealers & nursery owners in
South Carolina<br><br>
</b>Just as it had in the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South, the method of
selling seeds & plants changed dramatically in South Carolina at the
end of the century. However, in South Carolina, the change began well
before the American Revolution. The growth of urban economies gave rise
to new commercial gardening ventures, nurseries & seed stores,
operated by professional gardeners who initially imported & then grew
their own seed & plant stock.<br><br>
<b>Plant Dealer & Garden Writer Martha Logan<br><br>
<br>
Martha Logan (1701-1779)</b> first advertised her gardening wares in
November 1753 in the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b>. She offered for sale
<b>“seeds, flower roots, and fruit stones at her house”</b> on the
Green, near Trotts Point. Martha Logan was the daughter of Robert
Daniell, Landgrove and Deputy Governor of South Carolina. She was born
December 29, 1704, and married George Logan, Jr. on July 30, 1719.
Widowed by 1741, she was keeping a boarding school for children where
they would be <b>“carefully taught to read, write, dance and work
several kinds of needle-work”</b> in a <b>“pleasant, airy
situation”</b> on the green near Mrs. Trott’s point. But her first
love was gardening.<br><br>
Martha Logan wrote a <b>“Gardener’s Kalendar”</b> that appeared
until well past the turn of the 19th century in various almanacs. In the
March 14, 1768, <b>South Carolina Gazette</b> she advertised seed
imported from London: <b>“A Fresh assortment of very good garden seeds
and flower roots, with flowering shrubs and box edging beds, now growing
in her garden.”</b> Her notice establishes that box was used for edging
in pre-Revolutionary gardens.<br><br>
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LcyKZD5VI/AAAAAAAAOYo/JTSTaoobhtE/s400/9x+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+View+from+Mr.+Frasers+City+Residence+from+untitled+sketchbook,+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=241 alt="[]">
<b>1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View from Mr. Fraser’s City
Residence from untitled sketchbook, The Carolina Art Association Gibbes
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. Apparently Fraser lived on
King Street with his widowed mother.<br><br>
Gardener & Plant Dealer John Watson<br><br>
</b>One of the most important working gardeners & seed dealers of the
last half of the 18th-century in South Carolina was <b>John Watson</b>.
He came to the province seeking work as a gardener from London in 1755.
By December 10, 1763 he advertised in the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b>
that he had imported from London, <b>“a proper assortment of garden
seed, flower roots, me, which he will sell reasonably.”<br><br>
</b>In 1764, when John Laurens built his <b>"large, elegant brick
house of sixty feet by thirty-eight,"</b> with piazzas on the south
& east sides overlooking the marshes & Cooper River. He &
Martha Laurens created a 600' by 450' brick-walled botanical garden,
containing such exotics as orange, olive, lime, capers, ginger and guinea
grass, with the aid of John Watson.<br><br>
By September of 1765, Watson advertised an expanded line of garden wares
advertised in the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b>. Beside garden seeds and
flower roots, he offered<b> “…a great collection of fruit trees, Of
all kinds, which have been grafted and budded from the best fonts in the
province, with a great variety of English grape vines.”<br><br>
</b>On February 4, 1778, Watson added clover seeds to his offerings. By
the November issue of the <b>South Carolina Gazette</b> for the same
year, he noted for sale <b>“a great variety of Tulips, hyacinths,
lilies, anemanies, ranuculuses, double jonquils”</b> as well as
asparagus roots.<br><br>
His wares became more exotic by his November 28, 1776, notice in the
<b>South Carolina Gazette</b>, Watson offered for sale <b>“Sweet
Almonds, Filberts, English Quinces, Olives, China double flowering
Peaches, Almonds and Pomegranates.”<br><br>
</b>On January 1, 1778 his ad in the <b>South Carolina and American
General Gazette</b> offered <b>“Hazel Nuts Nutmeg, Myrtle flowering
Trees….Magnolia or Laurels fit for Avenues, etc. any height from three
to twenty, Artichoke.”<br><br>
</b>John Watson’s last notice appeared in February of 1789, when he
offered <b>“seedling cassenas for hedges, tallow trees for
exportation.”</b> In March 1789, John Watson died. His sons James Mark
and John ran the nursery, until young John left South Carolina in 1802,
finally selling <i>“Watson’s Gardens.”<br><br>
</i>
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LbmsM4MXI/AAAAAAAAOYg/D1CN74r13uQ/s400/18x+c+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Rice+Hope+Taken+from+One+of+the+Rice+Fields.+South+Carolina.+The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=221 alt="[]">
</i><b>c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Rice Hope Taken from One of
the Rice Fields. South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. <br><br>
Gardener William Bennet<br><br>
</b>Another gardener who came from England to South Carolina seeking work
was <b>William Bennet</b>. In his initial ad for public work in the
<b>South Carolina and American General Gazette</b> on May 13, 1771, he
also noted<b> “Seed to be sold,”</b> which he had apparently brought
with him from England. In the October 1, 1778, issue of the same
publication he was still offering unspecified garden seeds for
sale.<br><br>
In in 1786 & 1787, someone claiming to represent <b>Peter
Crouwells</b>, a well-known Philadelphia florist, who had immigrated from
Holland, advertised in the<b> South Carolina Gazette</b> on December 11,
1786, <b>“for sale, an extensive variety of the most rare and curious
Bulbous Flowers, Roots & Seeds, which have never appeared in this
country before they are just imported from Amsterdam…the most choice
sorts of Hyacinths, double Jonquiillea, Polyanthos, Narcissusses,
Tarcetts, Tulips, double Tuberoses, Pasetouts, Carnations, with a great
variety of double Ranunculas and Anemonies, a sort of Rose Bushes,
etc.”</b> Ladies and Gentlemen could get a catalogue giving the names
and colors of all the Bulbous Flowers.<br><br>
In February of 1790, <b>“John Chalvin & Co. Florists and Gardeners,
from France”</b> announced that they had brought<b> “from France a
great variety of Seed and Plants or flowering trees, lilly roots,
jacinths, and crow feet of the scarcest and prettiest qualities; rose
bushes of different colours; es also a great variety of pot and herbs
seeds”</b> which they had for sale at a very moderate price at No. 8
Elliott-street.<br><br>
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LaDsnyv_I/AAAAAAAAOYY/-U4oMVuo2ls/s400/15x+1800.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Brabants+on+French+Quarter+Creek,+The+Seat+of+the+Late+Bishop+Smith.+South+Carolina.++The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=242 alt="[]">
<b>1800. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Brabants on French Quarter Creek,
The Seat of the Late Bishop Smith. South Carolina. The Carolina Art
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. This
plantation lies on French Quarter Creek, a tributary of the Eastern
Branch of the Cooper River. The original grant to Francis Pagett in 1704,
was later joined a tract granted in 1709 to Daniel Brabant, a surgeon
whose name became that of the plantation. It amounted to 3,000 acres,
when Elizabeth Pagett married the Reverend Robert Smith, rector of St.
Philip’s Church in Charles Town. He became the 1st Bishop of the State
of South Carolina, and was the First Principal of the college of
Charleston, where Charles Fraser was one of the students.<br><br>
Gardener & Plant Dealer John Bryant<br><br>
John Bryant</b> was an English gardener who arrived in South Carolina,
sometime before his 1794 marriage to Jane Thornton in St. Phillip’s
Parish in Charleston. He first advertised in the <b>City Gazette and the
Daily Advertiser</b> on June 6, 1795 as a gardener for hire, but also
noted that, <b>“like wise imports, on commission, all kinds of trees,
shrubs and seeds, either useful or ornamental, from England, Philadelphia
and New York.”<br><br>
</b>By his April 15, 1796 notice in the <b>City Gazette and the Daily
Advertiser</b>, Bryant was importing seed for speculation rather than
commission, <b>“just Imported, a small assortment of seeds.”</b>
Bryant gained confidence in his buying public as the years passed, and by
the December 15, 1807 issue of the <b>Charleston Courier</b>, he was
advertising, <b>“A QUANTITY of FRUIT TREES, FLOWERING SHRUBS and
PLANTS, of the most esteemed for quality and beauty. The Fruit Trees
consist of Peaches, Nectarines, Pears, Cherries, Plumbs and Quinces, of
the largest size ever imported, for their age, into this
state.”<br><br>
</b>In 1807, Bryant eventually became the Clerk of Market Hall, where
many plants & seeds were sold & exchanged; but in the fall of
1808, Bryant died. His wife Jane kept the garden operating into the
spring of the next year. She advertised in the February 13 issue of the
<b>Charleston Times</b> <b>“For sale at the late John Bryant’s
Garden, upper end of King Street - grafted Peach, Nectarine, Apricot,
Plum and Apple Trees; Pride of India…Pine Apple plantsâ…Geranium, and
other Green House Plants.”</b> She did not advertise again.<br><br>
But it seems that someone bought Bryant's store & stock. <b>The
Charleston Times</b> of January 16, 1811, announced the opening of a new
seed store King Street. The unidentified proprietor advertised: <b>“New
Seed and Plant Store, Wholesale and retail 200...220 KING STREET RECEIVED
from London an extensive assortment of choice Garden, Field, Flower and
Bird Seeds, the growth of 1810. Also, by the ship Minerva, from New York,
a large supply of fresh American SEEDS, together with the former Stock of
fresh Seeds on hand, making the most complete and extensive assortment of
Seeds ever offered for sale in this city. On hand, a large assortment of
inoculated FRUIT TREES, among which are all the most approved kinds of
Peach, Pear, Apple, Cherry, Plum, soft shelled Almond, Dwarf Pear, Dwarf
Apple; Fruit and Flowering Shrubs, Red and White Antwerp Raspberry, that
gives remarkable large Fruit, Red and White Currant, English yellow
Jesamine, Lilach, with a large assortment of Plants, Garden Tools, Flower
Pots, Hyacinth Glasses, Bulbous Roots, Split Pease, Oat Meal, Flour or
Mustard, Etc.” <br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LYlJGLlMI/AAAAAAAAOYQ/8ytYUIECTow/s400/12x+c+1799.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+View+of+a+South+Carolina+Plantation+Barn.+The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=241 alt="[]">
c 1799. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View of a South Carolina Plantation
Barn. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston,
South Carolina.<br><br>
Botanist, Nusreryman, Gardener, & Writer Robert Squibb<br><br>
Robert Squibb</b>, botanist, nurseryman, gardener, and writer, had
published his catlogue-style book, <b>The gardener's calendar, for
South-Carolina, Georgia, and North-Carolina: Containing an account of
work necessary to be done in the kitchen and fruit gardens every month in
the year, with instructions for performing the same. Also particular
directions relative to soil and situation, adapted to the different kinds
of plants and trees most proper for cultivation in these states. </b>He
called himself a nursery and seedsman of Charleston, South-Carolina. The
book was printed by Samuel Wright and Co. for R. Squibb, and recorded in
the secretary of state's office, agreeable to the act of Assembly. (Price
six shillings.), in 1787.<br><br>
Squibb had announced his upcoming book with no undue modesty in the
<b>Charleston Evening Gazette</b> of July 4, 1786. He declared that his
patrons needed a gardening book to fit their particular coastal climate,
and English books only mislead them with their instructions.<br><br>
Squibb offered seeds for sale in the newspaper on August 19, 1795 in an
issue of the <b>City Gazette and Daily Advertiser</b>, <b>“THE
Subscriber, after many years practice in this state, is fully convinced
that garden seeds saved here are much better than those imported and does
hereby forewarn his friends and customers against depending on foreign
seeds, in particular such as onion, leek, carrot, parsnips, parsley,
celery, lettuce, endive and spinage.” <br><br>
</b>In 1801 Squibb advertised using much the same technique in the
<b>Augusta Chronicle and Gazette of the State of Georgia</b> on March 14:
<b>“GARDEN SEEDS. THE Subscriber having taken up his residence in
Augusta, as Market Gardener, and the saving of Seeds being a branch of
his profession, intends from time to time, both to import and save seeds
of the very best kinds."<br><br>
Squibb declared that he was offering his services & plants out of a
sense of public responsibility, "He considers it a duty he owes to
himself and fellow citizens, to remind them of the numberless impositions
that for some years past have taken place in this city, by sale of garden
seeds, which from their age of the inexperience of the collectors, have
either not vegetated or else produced a degenerated offspring, by which
the public have been much discouraged in the cultivation of gardens. To
remedy this evil he offers for sale a small assortment of SEEDS collected
from his own plants."<br><br>
</b>However, in 1802, Squibb was back in Charleston at his old garden.
Squibb called his garden and nursery, <i>“The Botanic Garden.”</i> In
the June 8 1802, issue of the <b>Charleston Times</b>, he advertised,<b>
“that he has imported from London, a small assortment of GARDEN SEEDS,
in excellent order. Also a few kinds of Seeds on his own saving, equal to
any ever saved in this state. Market Gardeners may be supplied with
London Salmon Redish Seed, at one dollar per pound.”<br><br>
</b>Robert Squibb died on April 22, 1806 at Silk Hope Plantation near
Savannah, Georgia, and was buried there. However, an ad for the
<i>“Botanic Garden”</i> appeared in the <b>Charleston Courier</b> on
November 2, 1812, <b>“At the Botanic Garden. A variety of Elegant
PLANTS, Such as Liqusiriniums, Geraniums, Cleroaedrems, Rosa Multifloras,
double and white Oleanders, Flowering Heaths, Laurustkius.”<br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LXh1ZEsdI/AAAAAAAAOYI/zd_tKNysBoQ/s400/10x+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+The+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina.+(4).jpg" width=400 height=315 alt="[]">
Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of
Art, Charleston, South Carolina. <br><br>
Gardener & Seed Dealer Charles Gross<br><br>
Charles Gross</b> was a gardener on King Street in the 1790 Charleston
City Directory, who bought a lot for his garden in Hampstead in 1792.
From there he continued to work as a gardener and sold seeds until his
death in 1802.<br><br>
<b>Gardener & Seedsman Edward Otter<br>
Edward Otter</b> was another gardener & seedsman from England who
brought garden seeds, peach trees, and Lombardy poplars with him when he
came to Charleston In 1803.<br><br>
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LWeELQjQI/AAAAAAAAOYA/69A9i9FIT_c/s400/8x+1803.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Entrance+to+Ashley+Hall+near+Charleston,+South+Carolina.+Gibbes+Museum+of+Art,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=246 alt="[]">
<b>1803. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Entrance to Ashley Hall near
Charleston, South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of
Art, Charleston, South Carolina. The 2nd Royal Governor William Bull
inherited Ashley Hall in 1755. A medical doctor, he never wavered in his
loyalty to his King. He left with the British in 1782, dying in London 9
years later. His will states: “I William Bull the late Governour of
South Carolina for his Britanic Majestiy do …my worldly goods greatly
deranged and lessened in value not by my Fault but by some unexpected
contingencies I have met from peculiar situations wherein I have been
placed during the late unhappy times in America…my plantation on Ashley
River in Carolina where my Grandfather lived died and lies buried where
my Father and all his children were born I wish to remain in the
possession of one of his Posterity I therefore give to my nephew William
his heirs…”<br><br>
John Foy's Seed Store<br>
John Foy’s</b> Seed Store at 184 Meeting Street was especially active
in 1810. In the November 14, 1810 issue of the <b>Charleston Times</b> he
placed this notice: "<b>A General Assortment of Choice Garden
Flower, and Bird SEEDS FLOWER POTS, and some excellent APPLE TREES:
ASPARAGIS-Gravesend; BEANS-Long Pod, Mangan, Windsor; BEET-Green, Blood
Pled; BROCOLO-Purple, White; BURNET; CABBAGE-Early York, Heart Shaped,
Sugar Loaf, early and later Battersea, Drum Head, Red Dutch, Green
Glazed, Bergin, Green Savoy; CARROT-Early Mom, Orange, Yellow;
CAULIFLOWER-Early and Late; CELERY-Solid, Italian, Chardoon, Chervil:
CUCUMBER-Early Frame, Shod Prickly, Long Green roman: ENDIVE-Green
Curled, White Curled, Broad Leaf or Bataivian; BEANS-Bush, China, Liver,
Yellow, Refugee, RUNNERS-Scarlet, White; LEIUCE-Impoerial, Grand
Admirable, Tennis Ball; ONIONS-Silver Skin, Large White. Red; LEEKS;
PARSLEY-Double and single; PARSNIPS:PEASE- Early Frame, Golden Hospur,
Early Charlton, Dwarf Marrowfat, Pearl and Prusian; Radish-Early Frame
Salmon; White and Red do., White and Red Turnip, Saisafy, Sanzonara,
Sorrel; SPINACH-assorted; TURNIP-assorted; BIRD SEEDS-Canary, Hopp, Maw,
Rape; HERB SEEDS-assorted; FLOWER SEEDS-assorted; a few TULIPS and
HYACINTHS; Assortment of most approved PEAR and APPLE TREES. JOHN FOY
expects some PEACH and PEAR TREES, and also some APPLE TREES from the
Botanic Garden, New-York."<br><br>
</b>By his December 24, 1810 ad in the same paper Foy added, <b>“A
HANDSOME assortment of FRUIT TREES."<br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LVhHVOklI/AAAAAAAAOX4/86p1R7Yjtb8/s400/7x+c.+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Mepkin,+The+Seat+of+Henry+Laurens,+Esq.,+near+Charleston,+South+Carolina.+The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=254 alt="[]">
c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Mepkin, The Seat of Henry Laurens,
Esq., near Charleston, South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. Mepkin was comprised
3,000 acres. John Colleton of England, sold Mepkin in 1762, to Henry
Laurens. After the destruction of the house during the Revolution, Henry
Laurens built this one in which Henry Laurens, Jr. was living at the time
of the sketch. As the latter had married a daughter of John Rutledge,
Fraser was again among relatives.<br><br>
Gardeners, Plant Dealers, & Botanists John Fraser & Sons<br><br>
John Fraser & his son James</b> were gardeners, botanists, & seed
dealers active in Charleston from the 1780s, until James’ death in
1819. James remained in South Carolina during his father’s various
returns to England.<br><br>
In the <b>Columbian Herald</b> of December 17, 1795, James Placed the
following advertisement. <b>"GARDEN Seeds, JAMES FRASER, UP THE
PATH. Has received 21 John Praiser, Nursery and Seedsman of Sloan Square,
Chelsea, near London, per the ship Roebuck, A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF
CULINARY SEEDS."<br><br>
</b>In the December 6, 1808, <b>Charleston Times</b>, the following
notice appeared, <b>“FRASER & SON HAVE received by the schooner
Blazing-Star from New-York, several hundred handsome PEACH, NECTARINE and
APRICOT TREES a few handsome FLOWERS, SHRUBS, AND PLANTS.”<br>
</b>The June 1, 1806, issue of the <b>Times</b> carried a notice that,
<b>“Fraser & Son, Have imported from London, A GENERAL assortment
of GARDEN and FLOWER SEEDS, which will be warranted as genuine, and all
of the crop of 1808."<br><br>
</b>In 1810, they advertised, <b>"A variety of English Garden &
Flower Seeds; Flowers; Flower Pots; and a few rare Plants, the proper of
Mr. John Fraser, botanist, having finished his collection of American
plants. The seeds will be put up in convenient lots, for the
accommodation of the purchaser. Any Ladies or Gentlemen who wish to be
supplied annually with warranted Garden, Agricultural or Flower Seeds,
and Roots, or choice Fruit Trees, will please send their orders to the
said office, or address them to Messrs. MASERS & SONS Sloan Square,
Chelsea, London."<br><br>
</b>
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5LUSDsOkUI/AAAAAAAAOXw/c-yGws7pKc8/s400/6x+c.+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+Mepkin,+The+Seat+of+Henry+Laurens,+Esq.,+near+Charleston,+South+Carolina.++The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=236 alt="[]">
c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Mepkin, The Seat of Henry Laurens,
Esq., near Charleston, South Carolina.The Carolina Art Association Gibbes
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. <br><br>
William Dobbs Seed & Plant Store<br><br>
<br>
William Dobbs</b> operated a Seed & Plant Store at 315 King street.
He advertised in the December 2, 1811 edition of the <b>Charleston
Times</b>: <b>"For sale at wholesale and retail, an extensive
assortment of Choice Garden Flowers and Bird seeds, the growth of 1811.
Also, a great variety of Double Flowering Hyacinths; double, single,
parrot and sweet scented Tulips; Renunculus’s: Ixia Crocata; Persian
Iris, white and yellow Narcissus; Gladiolius, Garden Tools, Flower Pors,
Hyacinth Glasses. Upwards of 4000 Inoculated Fruit Trees, among which are
all the most approved kinds of Apple; Pear, cherry, Plum, Peach, Apricot,
Nectarine, Hughe’s Crab, Chinese, and Syberian Apple, soft shelled
Almond. Quince, Goosebery, red white and black Currant, Filbert Nut,
Antwerp Rapsberry. Ornamental Trees and Shrubs - doable flowering Peach,
Cherry, and Almond, spired Fruitrix, Mountain Ash, English yellow
Jessamine, dwarf variegated Althed, Venetian Shumach, Guilder Rose,
Burgundy and Moss do. Balm of Gilead Fir."</b> <br><br>
Unfortunately, Dobbs died in the fall of 1812. His inventory of December
3, 1812, gives a glimpse of the property owned by the seeds: <b>“Rose
Apple Trees, Rosemary, Squills, Double Tube Roses, Amaryths, Peach Trees,
40 Canary Birds, Seeds, Bird Seed, shovels, spades, bird cages, pees, 2
green Houses and glasses, garden tools, Glasses for Roots, Shelves of
Jars with Seeds in them Double Seeds Box”<br><br>
</b>In October 1812, Dobbs property was put up at auction through ads in
the October 13 and 22 editions of the <b>Charleston Courier</b>.
<b>“All the Personal Estate and Stock in Trade of WM. DOBBS, late of
Charleston, Seedsman, deceased; consisting of a variety of elegant and
choice Plants and Shrubs, in boxes and pots, various kinds of Seeds and
Roots; Gardening Utensils; a variety of empty Flower Pots; an assorting
of Crockery Ware: together with his elegant collection of Singing Birds;
consisting of Canary and Mocking Birds; a Glass Case, containing stuffed
Birds; empty Bird Cages; a few Botanical Books; Also, his two Green
Houses with sashes. ALSO Several hundred choice Fruit Trees, now in the
ground.”<br><br>
<br>
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5O3P35gpaI/AAAAAAAAOdI/kxElfXjBYpw/s400/11+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860)+(3).jpg" width=400 height=257 alt="[]">
 Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.<br><br>
Philippe Stanislaus Noisette (1772-1835) Nurseryman & Seed
Dealer<br><br>
</b>Another gardener & seedsman active in Charleston in the same
period was <b>Philippe S. Noisette</b>. Philippe was a member of a
distinguished family of nursery owners who had been gardeners to French
nobles. He first moved from Paris to Haiti, when he was a young man and
fell in love with a dark-skinned Haitian woman whose name was Celestine.
In 1794, because of the Haitian slave revolution, he & Celestine
relocated to Charleston, where he was offered a position as
Superintendent of the South Carolina Medical Society Botanical
Gardens.<br><br>
He was especially interested in the production of sugar cane & ran
this ad in the November 14, 1814 edition of the <b>Courier</b>.
"<b>P.S.NOISETTE begs leave to inform the Planters of south Carolina
that he has successfully cultivated, for some pears past, in his garden
at Romney Village, opposite Mr. Turpires farm, the Sugar Cane; and that
he has at this moment canes form which Sugar may be extracted. In
consequence of this great advantages likely to be drived to this state,
from this valuable plant, he offers cuttings for sale, to such as which
to increase their wealth, and that of their country, et the rate of Five
Dollars for a hundred buds, or eyes."<br>
"He has also in his garden, a great quantity of FRUIT TREES, grafted
by himself of the best kinds from Europe; such as different kinds of
Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Plumbs, Pears, Apples, Figs and Grapes; as
well as many foreign, Ornamental Trees, Shrubs and Plants. Also for sale,
a collection of garden SEEDS, FLOWER SEEDS & FLOWER."<br><br>
</b>Philip Noisette's personal life was as interesting as his
professional accomplishments. Because of the miscegenation laws of South
Carolina, Philippe was forced to declare his wife, Celestine, his slave.
They had 6 children who also became his slaves. The <i>1830 Federal
Census</i> recorded him as a single white man owning eight slaves, who
are believed to be his wife & at least five of his six
children.<br><br>
In 1821 Charleston, records show that Phillipe Stanislaus Noisette,
<b>"Botanist of Charleston,"</b> stated that <b>"under
peculiar circumstances"</b> he became <b>"the Father of Six
children, begotten upon his faithful Slave named Celestine."</b> For
many years it had been his intention to free his family, but the
<b>"passage of the late Law upon this subject"</b> prompted him
to seek their freedom now by the passage of a legislative act.<br><br>
Shortly before his death, in 1835, Philippe petitioned the state of South
Carolina for the emancipation of his faithful wife, now his slave,
Celestine & their six children. Philippe died without knowing the
results of his petition. Philippe’s family was in fact later
emancipated and allowed to secure their inheritance & remain in the
state of South Carolina.<br><br>
In 1859, the South Carolina House of Representatives was petitioned to
let the<b> "mulatto"</b> children of Philip Stanislas Noisette
remain in South Carolina, as free persons of color. By his will Noisette
had directed that the children, born of his enslaved wife, Celeste, be
removed to some other country, where they would be free. The children,
however, were <b>"attached to the laws of the County, and very
unwilling to remove."<br><br>
</b>Intrigue also followed Noisette's botanical accomplishments. An 1889
journal on botany reported the following information, <b>"The
Noisette Rose is a daughter of America. She was born one day in the
garden of a brave citizen of Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. John
Champney. It was obtained by fertilizing a Musk Rose, Rosa Moschata, by
pollen from the China or Bengal Rose. Botanists called the new creation
Rosa Moschata hybrida, and Rosa champneyana indifferently. But after
awhile the name was superseded by that of Rosa Noisettiana in this way:
At Charleston there lived a gardener named Philip Noisette, who was of
French origin. This man fertilized one of Champney's hybrids, Champney's
Pink Cluster, and getting from it another variety sent it in 1814 to
Louis Freres, of Paris. The Rose became rapidly famous, and the name of
Noisette replaced the first name of Champney, for the new race... The
flowers of the Noisette are highly fragrant; they are numerous, double,
and charm by the variety and delicacy of their colors."</b> John
Champneys, who lived southwest of Charleston, was an import-export
merchant, whose trade was so successful, that he had his own wharves on
Johns Island.<br><br>
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5KACpi_SQI/AAAAAAAAOVg/Wqgo_V46hYA/s400/4x+c.+1796.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+The+Seat+of+James+Fraser,+Esq.,+Goose+Creek,+South+Carolina.+The+Carolina+Art+Association,+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=245 alt="[]">
<b> c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). The Seat of James Fraser,
Esq., Goose Creek, South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. James Fraser was the older
brother of Charles. The house was called Wigton.<br><br>
Comparison of seed dealers & nursery owners in South Carolina &
the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South<br><br>
</b>The pattern established by the growing South Carolina seed &
nursery trade is similar to that of the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South,
but there are some significant differences. In the extended Chesapeake
region, gardeners & plant dealers dedicated to promoting &
selling plants found their most secure footing after the
Revolution.<br><br>
Female Pennsylvania & South Carolina nursery owners & seed
merchants successfully began selling both useful & ornamental plants
decades before the Revolution. In South Carolina, much seed & plant
material was imported from England, both before & after the
Revolution.<br><br>
In the Chesapeake, the earliest seed merchants & nursery owners,
appearing after the Revolution, were from France & Germany. After the
war, Dutch bulbs & roots found their way into South Carolina as well;
and itinerant French seed merchants also peddled their wares in
Charleston, but English nursery proprietors continued to own the majority
of Carolina businesses.<br><br>
In both regions, English gardeners & nursery owners came to dominate
the local seed & nursery trade by the turn of the century. Both
Chesapeake & Carolina garden entrepreneurs offered a full range of
stock from greenhouse plants to seeds for field crops, from traditional
medicinal herbs to fragrant shrubs by the beginning of the first decade
of the 19th-century.<br><br>
Seed merchants & nursery owners in both areas aggressively advertised
their services & stock (at both retail and wholesale prices) in
regional newspapers, & sometimes offered free printed catalogues to
prospective clients. Gardeners in both regions sold seeds & plants at
their nurseries & stores; at local farmers’ markets; and through
agents at various locations throughout their regions.<br><br>
Gardeners from both regions sold seeds & plants imported from
Philadelphia & New York, as well as those from their local suppliers.
A new nationwide network of capitalistic nursery & seed business was
nipping at the heels of traditional garden barter exchanges in the
Mid-Atlantic, Upper South, & South Carolina as the 19th-century
dawned over the horizon.<br><br>
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/S5J_OM2y11I/AAAAAAAAOVY/b6Ls3Ujfyv8/s400/2+1803.+Charles+Fraser+(1782-1860).+A+Bason++Storehouse+Belonging+to+the+Santee+Canal+in+South+Carolian.+Carolina+Art+Association.+Charleston,+South+Carolina..jpg" width=400 height=252 alt="[]">
<b> 1803. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). A Bason & Storehouse
Belonging to the Santee Canal in South Carolina. The Carolina Art
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. This was
the storehouse at Simpson's Lock on the canal between the Santee &
Cooper Rivers.</b>.<br>




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