1860 - James J. H. Gregory - Seedsman, Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead, watercolor by Maurice Prendergast,

A New England seedsman, James Gregory introduced some great vegetables, first among them is my favorite, Hubbard Squash!  I didn't realize I hadn't posted much about him until I checked the Seedsman Index last night to add a link to a photo of his Marblehead seed farm workers.  

Another reason I like Gregory is that he took cabbage seriously.  I love engravings of cabbage, and I crave cabbage as a coleslaw. I don't cook it EVER as my husband hates it.

(Ah, well, he is worth the compromise.)

First, here is a brief biography from Liberty Hyde Bailey's The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, Vol. 3 -

Gregory, James J. H., farmer, seedsman, and author, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, November 7, 1827, and died February 20, 1910.  

He was educated in the public schools at Marblehead, two years at Middlebury College, and graduated from Amherst College in 1850. He taught in Marblehead, Hingham and Lunenberg.  

The starting of the seed business was almost an accident. He was reading the"New England Farmer" and saw the request for a good winter squash, and as his father had recently raised some splendid squashes from seed that "Old Marm Hubbard" had given him, he sent the inquirer some of this seed. 

The man was so well pleased that he wrote articles for several papers extolling these squashes, and soon the Gregory Seed Business was thriving, sending Hubbard squash seed to all parts of the United States.  

Naturally the business started in the home, the attic being used for the purpose; in a very short time it was necessary to move to larger quarters. He branched out with other seed, both vegetable and flower, and at the time of his death was carrying on one of the largest seed establishments in the country.  

During his career he introduced many new varieties of vegetables, several of which are the standards in the market today. His seed-farms comprised over 400 acres where he grew pedigreed stock; he always felt that by growing his own seeds he was less liable to mistakes and could, himself, select the most perfect types. His reputation for choice varieties was so renowned that the firm became the headquarters for stock seeds for other well-known concerns. 

He wrote and distributed many thousands of copies of treatises on various agricultural subjects, such as: 

"Onion Raising," 1865; "Squashes: How to Grow Them," 1867; "Cabbages and Cauliflower," 1870; "Carrots, Mangold Wurtzels and Sugar Beets," 1877; "Fertilizers," 1885. 

In his early life he lectured extensively on agricultural and horticultural subjects. 

Mr. Gregory was a philanthropist of renown. He gave large sums of money for the establishment of southern schools and colleges, the Gregory Institute of Wilmington, North Carolina, being founded by him. He served his native town in many responsible capacities and filled many public offices. 

- Edgar Gregory.

Late 1800s - J. H. Gregory Seed Farm Workers and a Good Book

I was looking up this interesting place, the Fern-croft Inn about 1890, when what did I find but this fantastic photo of J. H. Gregory and his seed farm workers!  

This book is fun to look through if you like historical images from New England.

On the cover: (a cropped version of the above photo)

 J. H. Gregory Seed Farm Workers.

J. H. Gregory (1827 -1920) was a Marblehead seed farmer and philanthropist.  He owned more than 400 acres of farmland in Middleton, Marblehead, and Danvers.  He developed special squash and cherry tomatoes. After the seeds were removed from the squash,  the squash were left in a box with a sign reading, "Help Yourself". The man with the dark beard in the back row was J. H. Gregory.  Gregory Street was named in his honor and the houses on the street were built for his workers.  His seed catalogs were mailed all over the world. (Courtesy of the Middleton Historical Society.)

1826 - Rudbeckia pinnata Engraving from Bury Hill

The older I get the more I become enamored of the Rudbeckias.
      It is something about their jolly, "go for it" appearance I think!  

This detail is from the 1826 engraving shown at the bottom of this post.  

Here is another scan from another copy (remember, these are hand tinted.)  This scan was not "cleaned up" to eliminate the background like Google Books too often does.  I want to see the paper and I think the engraved lines have more personality.

Last year I bought "Dumbo", a named variety of Rudbeckia maxima which has amused me no end this year when it finally took off, growing almost 8 feet with one stem and one flower!   I am saving the seeds.  A patch of them will be hilarious. 

1825 to 1827 - The British Flower Garden: Containing Coloured Figures & Descriptions of the Most Ornamental & Curious Hardy Herbaceous Plants, by Robert Sweet - Vol. 2

Our drawing of this plant was taken from some fine flowering specimens obligingly given to us by Robert Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill, when we had the pleasure of visiting his valuable and rare collection last Autumn.  
The plant from which the specimens were taken, was about 5 feet high, and entirely covered with its fragrant flowers, which made a fine appearance; it is certainly one amongst the finest of the strong-growing plants that flower in Autumn, and succeeds well in the common garden soil, where the situation is not too moist, and may be increased by dividing at the root, or by seeds, which sometimes ripen.
 Pursh mentions it as growing in the western parts of Carolina and Georgia, flowering from July to October.

Source