Who Was The Put-Upon Horticulturist, Mr. Bateham?

There is nothing like a good obit to fill you in quickly on a person's life.  Bateham seems a good horticulturist who did a great deal to spread good practices and varieties through his writings and participation in a variety of societies and committees.

MEMORIAL.

THE LATE SECRETARY OF THE (Ohio Horticultural) SOCIETY.

[From the Rural New Yorker of August 28, 1880]

M. B. Bateham died, after a lingering illness, at his home in Painesville, Ohio, August 5th, 1880. Long, quite intimately associated together for the advancement of agriculture in our adopted State, the elder is now left to lament the departure of his younger yoke-fellow.

Born among the fruitful gardens of smiling Kent, England, on September 13, 1813, with garden associations and surroundings, it was but natural that when his father migrated to the valley of the Genesee in 1825, and established a market garden at Rochester, New York, the younger Bateham, then 12 years of age, should become imbued with a taste for horticulture that has been the guiding impulse of his life-work. His frequent visits to Rochester in later years, since it has become so famous a horticultural center, must have been very gratifying to our friend, who would there see the abundant fruitage of the good seed he himself had helped to sow in the earlier half of this century.

From the garden the transition was easy and natural to the seed-store, and so we find him as a seedman in 1833. His qualifications as a writer were soon called into requisition, and for five years he was editor of the Genesee Farmer, for a long time the leading agricultural paper, even while the fertile valley was recognized as the Great West, a term which has been widely separated from the Genesee in the later years by the westward march of empire.

Mr Bateham's taste naturally brought him into contact with such men as Elwanger & Barry, and he spent some time in their extensive nurseries, which afforded him a fine opportunity of becoming familiarly acquainted with fruits, and encouraged his love for pomology.

 

catalog online

After an extensive western tour, chiefly on horseback, and partly undertaken in pursuit of health, Mr. Bateham settled in Columbus in 1845,  and has ever since been a citizen of Ohio. 

There, in the first year of his residence, he established the Ohio Cultivator, one of the first agricultural papers printed in the State. In it he found a good medium for imparting much valuable information, and a means of communication with others interested in rural affairs. His articles on insects and grasses were among the first papers upon those topics that were spread before the farmers of Ohio. In its pages he called upon the fruit-growers and nurserymen to assemble in convention and compare notes and fruits, and from this beginning in 1847 has grown up the State Horticultural Society of to-day—a fitting monument to the memory of its originator.

 From its early organization Mr. Bateham has been its untiring Secretary, always declining proffers of what some might consider the high post of honor as presiding officer. To do, was his choice, and so he preferred to wield the pen to the gavel.  Indeed, it is the mightier implement of the two, and in his hands it was fully and faithfully employed in the diffusion of valuable information among his fellow-men.

...

A bit of his life is seen in this news article from The Ohio Farmer, Jan 28, 1871.

  I feel for his awful loss of his library!

The numerous friends of Mr. M. B. Bateham, will regret to learn that he met with the misfortune, on the 18th inst, of  having his pleasant residence burned, at Painesville. 
Mr. Bateham, with an anxiety to save all the property possible, came very near losing his life, by the falling through of a floor at the same instant he cleared the building.
But little of the furniture, etc., save that from the lower floor, was saved, and in the loss, Mr. Bsteharn laments parting with a thirty year collection of agricultural and horticultural books and papers. The total loss is estimated at $3,500, insurance covering $1500.
Mr. Bateham writes us, that his little daughter Minnie, who, only the Saturday before, had submitted to a severe surgical operation, for the removal of fragments of dead bones from the limbs and arms, having been for two years a sufferer from necrosis of those members, was not seriously affected by the excitement.

1831 - 1898: A Seed Store's History - Albany, New York

I somehow became entangled in the story of a seed store as it traveled through time and the hands of many men.  It isn't that interesting!  I just got caught by the fact it changed hands so many times.

Grant Thorburn, the famous and loquacious seedsman, is the father of the store's first owner, William Thorburn, who set up as a seedsman in Albany, New York in 1831. 

This photo is one of many fine images of center Albany over the years at a Times Union slideshow. This is the corner of State and Pearl where the seed store was located, although this might not be their corner.
1831 - William Thorburn established the Albany Seed Store, located at Broadway.



To our friends in the West, on the banks of the Canal, in and about Albany. Twelve years ago, there came forth an host of Seedsmen, with Cobbett at their head, speaking great swelling words; they promised much— they performed nothing. For the accommodation of our customers as above, we intend, (nothing extra preventing), to open a Seed, Plant, and Flower Root Store, at No. 347 North Market street, on the 6th day of April next, opposite the building into which the Post office is to remove on or before the first of May, within a few doors of the Museum, and within pistol shot of the five banks. The business in Albany will be conducted by one of my sons, and the store supplied with the same goods, and at the same prices at which we sell in New York. As we derive our supplies more or less from every quarter of the globe, we think it will be a facility to the agriculturalist, as well as profitable to the concerned. From a planting of fifteen dollars, the present state of our establishment will show what good seeds, good soil and good cultivation will produce. If they will keep pace with the ability, and Providence smiles on the undertaking, I see nothing to prevent its arriving in a few years to the same extensive footing in Albany as the mother store in New York; for, while the rich in our city purchase the flowers and the blossoms, and the rivers and the ocean carry our seeds to every clime, so in Albany the taste wants only food, and riches are already there in abundance; while the canal conveys the seed to the Lake Superior, the great Western Road will transport them far towards the setting sun.— Nothing that good Seeds and attention to business can perform will be wanting on our part to meet the public expectation.        G. THORBURN & SONS.

1860 - William Thorburn is still running the store in 1860 as this article  from then mentions him.

1867 - Samuel T. Thorburn seems to have taken over. Son of William.  All I know is that in 1860 Samuel was working for his father.


1854 - both Thorburn and Douw were in business, separately (page references both)

1868 - Strong & Douw Co.       I can't find anything about Mr. Strong, perhaps he was a money partner, not an established seedsman or grower of any sort.

1870 - V. P. Douw & Co., at 80 State Street, was established upon the retirement of Mr.

            Strong and the addition of Mr. Price, AND the purchase of the Thorburn Albany Seed

            Store. (1871 - William Thorburn dies while visiting Maryland)

NOTICE.—The co-partnership heretofore existing between CHARLES H. STRONG and VOLCKERT. P. DOUW, under the firm name of Strong & Douw, is this day dissolved by mutual consent. 

V. P. Douw assumes the business and will sign in liquidation.

CHARLES H. STRONG,
Albany, Jan. 1st, 1870. VOLCKERT. P. DOUW


NOTICE.-Having this day sold the business, stock and fixtures of Thorburn's Albany Seed Store to Mr. V. P. Douw, and made an engagement with him as Seedsman, I take this opportunity of thanking my old customers for their past patronage, and of soliciting a continuance of the same to my successor, 

Albany, Jan. 26th, 1870. SAMUEL T. THORBURN.


Albany, Jan. 26th, 1870.
Having purchased the entire interest of my late partner in the Agricultural Warehouse of Strong & Douw, and also the entire stock, fixtures and business of Thorburn's Old Albany Seed Store, and secured the services of the experienced Seedsman, Mr. Samuel T. Thorburn, so long and favorably known to the farmers and gardeners of this vicinity; I shall continue the business of both establishments at the old stand, No. 82 State Street, where can be found a full stock of all the latest improved Agricultural Implements and Machinery, Garden Tools of every description, a full assortment of Horticultural Goods, and every variety of Flowers and Vegetable Seeds, wholesale and retail.  V. P. DOUW - SEEDS AND PLANTS.

1876 - Price & Knickerbocker  was formed upon the death of Mr. Duow and the addition of                 Mr. Knickerbocker

1885 - Price & Reed was formed as Mr. Knickerbocker retired and Mr. Reed joined. They

            claim establishment back to 1831 (Thorburn) in their catalog.

Catalog

1898 - Mr Reed retired and Mr Price continued alone until his death in 1918.

Some articles I got dates from are below.  They don't always agree.

Price & Reed, Successors to Price & Knickerbocker, Seedsmen, Plants, Agricultural Implements, etc., Nos. 516 and 518 Broadway. 

—Fifty-seven years of unbroken prosperity sums up in brief the history of the widely known and responsible house of Price & Reed, (successors to Price & Knickerbocker), seedsmen, and dealers in agricultural implements, garden tools, etc. It is one of the oldest and leading establishments devoted to this important branch of commercial activity in Albany, while its business connection is of a most substantial character.  

The house was founded in 1831 by Wm. Thorburn, who was succeeded by Strong & Douw, the style subsequently changing to V. P. Douw & Co. (of which Mr. Price, the present senior member, was the junior partner), they conducting the concern up to 1875, when the style became Price & Knickerbocker, who were in turn succeeded about one year ago by the enterprising and popular firm whose name stands at the head of this sketch, and by whom the business has since been continued with uninterrupted success. 

They occupy a four story 30' x 100' foot building, and carry constantly on hand a heavy and first-class stock, comprising field, garden and grass seeds of every variety, plants, bulbs, etc,; also a large assortment of agricultural implements, garden tools, lawn mowers and kindred articles, and the trade of the firm, which is both of a wholesale and retail character, extends throughout New York State, New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and adjacent states, with a fine local patronage. 

Mr. George H. Price, who is a gentleman of forty, was born at Boston, Mass., and Mr. E. T. Reed, who is a young man of about twenty-nine, is a native of Albany. They are both men of sterling qualities, as well as energy, sagacity and excellent business ability, and sustain an A1 reputation in commercial life.

The above from The Empire State: Its Industries and Wealth, 1888

========

from 

Bi-centennial History of Albany: History of the County of Albany 1886

SEED STORES
William Thorburn established a seed store at the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane in 1831, which he continued until 1868, when he sold out to V. P. Douw & Co. 

The firm of Price & Knickerbocker bought out the business in 1875, and have since conducted it at No. 80 State street. When first established the trade was merely local, but under the present proprietors it has grown to large proportions, and extends not only all over the United States, but to foreign countries. Both a wholesale and retail trade is carried on. The individual members are G. H. Price and David M. Knickerbocker. Over 3,000 varieties of seed are carried in stock.

=======

American Florist, Volume 50, 1918

New York state has lost one of its oldest seedsmen in the death of George H. Price which occurred on March 20 at his home, 543 Clinton avenue, Albany, after an illness of two weeks. The deceased was born in Boston 76 years ago of Puritan stock. He was educated in private schools and in the Frank D. Sanborn academy at Concord, Mass.


He then entered the employ of Joel Nourse & Company, seed merchants, Boston, and remained with the concern for five years. In 1868 he removed to Albany to become manager of the seed store of Strong & Douw. In 1870, Mr. Strong retired and Mr. Price became a partner of the concern under the style of V. P. Douw & Company. Mr. Douw died in 1876 and Mr. Price took as partner D. M. Knickerbocker and the concern was known as Price & Knickerbocker. In 1885 Mr. Knickerbocker retired and Edward T. Reed was admitted to the firm under the title of Price & Reed. The latter retired in 1898 and George H. Price then conducted the business alone until his death. ...
========

1828 - A Happy Man and His Matthiola incana

plantillustrations.org

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

Johnny's Selected Seeds writes,

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

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

From the N. Y. Farmer and Horticultural Repository.

ART. 89.—An improved variety of Ten-week stock.
It is generally very interesting to the lovers of fine flowers to be informed of the origin and progress of the improvements introduced among the finer sorts of them. The Stock's July flower when in bloom exhibits a most beautiful appearance, and emits such a delightful fragrance as entitles it to a rank in the heraldry of Flora, almost on level with the inimitable rose. 
It would perhaps not be saying too much should we aver that the variety about to be described exceeds every other of the species ...  

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

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

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

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

Botanische wandplaten 1899

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

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

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

1620, Bessler - Hortus Eystettensis

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

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

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

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

WILLIAM WILSON.

Murray Hill Nursery,
May 27, 1828.

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

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

1856 to1921 - Obituary for John Lewis Childs, Seedsman

This joyous nasturtium catalog cover is a fitting memorial to a fine seedsman.  

It is always interesting to get a glimpse of the individual as it is not easy to find personal information beyond the society page sort.  This obit shows  a man who was having trouble with with the "melting pot" theory of immigration as a strength of our country.

John Lewis Childs.

John Lewis Childs, well known mail order seedsman and gladiolus specialist of Floral Park. N. Y.. died March 5 of heart failure on the New York Central Railroad‘s Twentieth Century train between Albany and New York, returning from Los Angeles. Calif.

On February 11 he passed through Chicago en route to Los Angeles leaving on the Santa Fe Railroad's forenoon train the Missionary.   He then stated he had been unwell during the fall and early winter but had almost regained his normal health by a sojourn in Florida. He looked worn, as if from overwork, but was active, methodical and full of plans for future business.

Returning to Chicago from Los Angeles on the Santa Fe about 10 a. m., March 4, leaving on the Twentieth Century,  our representative, an old friend, spent upwards of an hour with him at the LaSalle street station and his health had apparently greatly improved. He spoke at length of general and trade conditions in Los Angeles and discussed various political and mercantile matters with all his usual vigor, among other things expressing himself as emphatically opposed to the presence of the Japanese in California, his objections being social as well as economic.

Mr. Childs was born in Maine in 1856 and at the age of 17 went to work in a greenhouse establishment at Queens. N. Y.    The following year he rented a few acres of land near the railroad, a mile and a half from Queens. and started business for himself as seedsman and florist. For five years it was uphill work but perseverance won out.   Subsequently the land occupied was purchased and from time to time more acreage was added. The railroad company built a station and at Mr. Child's request, it was called Floral Park. Greenhouses, storage houses and dwellings for employee followed in rapid succession. His mails became so large and important that the government established a post office at his place. Progress continued until Floral Park became a thriving village. built up mainly on this one industry. He early specialized in bulbous plants. on which he was well informed. At one time he had the most complete collection of garden lilies ever brought together in this country. but these were so persistent in running out that he was obliged to abandon the Long Island culture of most of them. He acquired the late E. V. Hallock’s fine strain of gladioli and gave a wonderful impetus to the culture of this plant.

The soil at Floral Park having been worn out by a long period of intensive cultivation, some years ago the plantations of gladioli and other specialties were removed to a large tract of land about 35 miles from the home establishment. The new place, with its station, post office and warehouses has been named Flowerfield, this growing and shipping point being reserved for the heaviest products. The principal business and offices are continued at Floral Park. which is only 20 minutes from the center of Manhattan by direct train service. The catalogues are printed and mailed at these headquarters and it was here the Mayflower ran a highly successful career so many years as an amateur gardening monthly, the paper being later sold to an Ohio concern. He also had a 10-acre seed growing branch at South Pasadena. Calif.

In his mail order business, Mr. Childs had a remarkable faculty in the selection of attractive common names for plants, many of which will be recalled by our readers as the cigar plant (Cuphea ignea), the Chinese lantern plant (Physalis Franchetii,) the black calla, Chinese wool plant, the wonder berry and many others, these names, well advertised, creating an extraordinary demand in most cases.  Perhaps the best example of his ability in this direction was in his purchase from Frank H. Banning, Kinsman, OH. of Gladiolus Reuben H. Warder, which he renamed America.

Besides the details of his great business and close personal attention to the wants of his customers. Mr. Childs found time to perform many public duties. He was a member of the state senate during 1894 and 1895. when that office was more important than that of congressman, New York state having more of the latter than of the former. He was a director in the Preferred Accident Insurance Company of New York. and for a long time treasurer of that well known institution. He was a director of the National Agency Company of New York. the Queens and Suffolk Fire Insurance Company. and of the Bank of Jamaica, a member of the board of managers. also treasurer and trustee of the Union Free School at Floral Park. He was a member of the Society of American Florists, the American Seed Trade Association and many other trade organizations.
He was greatly interested in wild birds and in means for their preservation and protection.

This lush illustration is from the back cover.

1807 - Michael Floy, Seedsman, "Upper End of Broadway", New York

Michael Floy was a good businessman, a good writer, a good seedsman and nurseryman, who lived a good and prosperous life. 

Following his father into the trade he unfortunately had no offspring interested in the business.

In 1847 his basic history was noted :
About fifty years since, a nursery was established near Rivington, east of Sheriff-street, which street derived its name from Mr. Sheriff, the proprietor. 

Mr. Michael Floy, now living, succeeded Mr. S. in this nursery. He afterward occupied land in Greenwich~lane, and in 1807 removed from thence toward the North River, his nursery being situated between King and Barrow-street, extending across Hudson-street, that beautiful and spacious thoroughfare, to Greenwich-street.

This nursery being required for building lots, he was induced in 1820, to start a nursery on the Brevoort estate, immediately north of the Sailors Snug Harbor, which he carried on until the year 1827, since which time he purchased fourteen acres of land in Harlem, where he at present resides. 

 Snug Harbor Looking North

We thus see that the march of improvement has driven the nurserymen and market-gardeners far from the fields of their early exertions, and that where “once a garden smiled,” now stand the mansions of adventurous merchants and successful tradesmen.

Transactions of the American Institute: Of the City of New-York
(This is an interesting read if you are interested in New York.)

Following up on the theme of Floy moving around a lot considering he was a nurseryman is information on land speculators in the early 1800s buying up what used to be farmland surrounding the city.  Here is more detail on why he moved taken from an interesting dissertation cited at the end.  It is a good read.

In 1835 "speculators" offered Manhattan nurseryman Michael Floy ten times what he had originally paid for land in Harlem. The following year Floy's son excitedly penned in his diary; "A gentleman today offered father a fine farm at Jamaica for $10,000, and at the same time offered only $140,000 for our Nursery! The temptation is almost too great." Thus, high prices encouraged considerable areas of farmland to transfer from farmer to speculator.
...
 Manhattan nurseryman and author Michael Floy intended to leave the family business to his son Michael, with whom he operated the family business. Yet twenty-eight year-old Michael died unexpectedly in the spring of 1837, and his father continued on alone until his death in 1854. Floy's oldest son James, a successful clergyman, had no interest in horticulture. Apparently, neither did his daughters or their husbands.  

Suspecting that upon his death the nursery would be sold, the elder Floy empowered his executors to sell the entire stock of plants, shrubs and trees. The language of the senior Floy's will also suggests that potentially serious obstacles awaited the heirs of valuable properties; whether to sell, rent or develop, or to keep the land intact.  

In Floy's case the nurseryman purchased a ten acre parcel of land between Fourth and Fifth Avenues from 125th to 127th Streets for $8,500 in 1827.  A quarter-century later it had quadrupled in value. Apparently anticipating some disagreement over the dispersal of the estate after the death of his wife (who inherited use rights) Floy requested that the executors "come into agreement" with his family over whether to sell the property "or to improve it."    In 1854 the Harlem properties included four houses and lots, the nursery, plus the "house I now occupy in Harlem and also the lot 25 feet by one-half block in depth, on which the house stands.   The Floy heirs appear to have managed through the pitfalls of probate, but other families were less fortunate.
...
Manhattan nurseryman Michael Floy described his first encounter with an " awkward and ineffective one-horse cultivator" in the summer of 1834: 

Father had a great notion to buy an instrument called a "cultivator," so he borrowed Mr. Hall's. We put up the old Gray before it, but it made sad work, and might be truly called a "cultivator," for I believe it cultivated the weeds so as to make them grow better than before. ...

Wednesday, January 7, 1835: Clear sky and most intensely cold; thermometer but one above zero. . . . The frost has got in the little Green-house, and I do not know when we shall be able to get it out. I laid all the fault to the coal, so Father got a ton of Schuylkill; if he had not done so we should have been frozen all up.  

Thursday, January 8, 1835: Same as yesterday. By keeping two fires constantly going, got the frost out of the little Green-house. I do not wish to see Jack there again; the plants do not relish such a companion.

• The Diary of Michael Floy, Jr., Bowery Village 1833-1837 (New York: Yale University Press. 1941).
•  Last Will and Testament of Michael Floy, New York, New York (Proved 10 May 1854) vol. 110, pp. 82-86, New York County Probate Court. 

Tremante, Louis P. III, "Agriculture and farm life in the New York City region, 1820-1870 " (2000). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 12290.
http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/12290

The best Dwarf Marrowfats (peas) we have ever had, were some purchased the last year from Michael Floy, seedsman, New-York. 

Testimonial from The Southern Agriculturist and Register of Rural Affairs, 1830

New York, Dec. 27, 1828. 

Sir,—

I send you the quantity of Bishop's Early Dwarf Prolific Pea, ordered by you, being of the same kind as presented by me to the Horticultural Society of this city. 

Agreeably to your request, I will give you a short account of its origin, peculiar properties, and mode of treatment. 

In the year 1826, they made their first appearance in London, having been sent, as I am informed, from some part of Scotland, where they were originally raised by a practical gardener, of the name of Bishop. 

In the year 1817, so great a reputation had they obtained in the neighbourhood of London, that they were readily sold by the nursery men there at a guinea a pint; and in the spring of that year I received a small portion of them as a present from an eminent horticulturist, who, in the letter accompanying them writes as follows: 

"These peas are making a great noise here, and knowing they would be highly acceptable to you, I have, with some difficulty, procured you a small quantity. Its peculiar excellences Appear to be these: its great productiveness, equalling, if not surpassing any variety hitherto known; its earliness and its remarkable dwarf habit, seldom attaining, even in the best soils, the height of twelve inches, which of itself would make it a most valuable acquisition, more especially for small gardens." 

In addition to what is here stated, I remark from my own experience, that this pea fully realizes the description here given, and the following appears the most judicious method of treating them: 

They should be planted three, or at any rate two inches apart in the rows, as from their dwarfishness and spreading habit they do not do so well if sown closer; hence it is obvious there will be a great saving of seed, as a pint of these Peas will go as far as two or three quarts of any other, sown in the usual manner. 

They commence blooming when not three inches high, bear most abundantly, and are very fine eating. If a few were planted weekly, a constant succession of Green Peas might be obtained all the summer and autumn, as from the habit of their growth they appear better calculated to withstand the heat of an American summer than any variety with which I am acquainted. 

I have still a few quarts left; which are offered to those desirous of cultivating an excellent vegetable, at one dollar per quart. Persons at a distance, by remitting the cash by letter (post paid) will receive them by any conveyance they may designate.              

Michael Floy
Seedsman, &c., New York.

1828 - THE AMERICAN FARMER

The author of the The Cottage Garden of America, Walter Elder, said in 1850:

Michael Floy, nurseryman and florist, New York City, is an excellent writer ; his edition and additions of Lindley's “Guide to the Orchard" is a valuable book on fruits.

The Diary of Michael Floy Jr. is not available online...sigh. ..BUT I got a copy for $3.48 on ABE!!! Can't wait til it gets here :-)

Mr. Brooks Edits Michael Floy's Diary, A Vivid Picture Of Life In The 1830's

By Katherine Eisenhart '42

The Diary of Michael Floy Jr. edited by Professor Richard Brooks of the English department, has just been published, in celebration of 75th anniversary and as a memorial to Margaret Floy Washburn.   Washburn,  professor of psychology at Vassar from 1903 to 1937, discovered the diary of her uncle and began the work of preparation for publication. 

The diary covers the period from October 1, 1833 to February 1837. It is of great interest because, as Miss Washburn says in her introductory note, it gives "a vivid picture of American life at a period and in a social medium of which there is little contemporary record." 

Started In Nursery Business 

Michael Floy. Jr.. was a young New Yorker, who after his graduation from Columbia, joined his father in the nursery business, and did very well, particularly with dahlias and camellias (also canaries on the side).    The Floy family lived in a brick house in the Bowery which in 1893 was a rather a different place than it is today.   Through his daily records that range from weather observations to philosophical inquiry, one sees clearly the New York of that time and at the same time gathers a very distinct picture of the author who is chiefly remarkable for the variety of his interests. 

Above and beyond his work m the nursery (which required a daily trip to Harlem to care for the fruit trees and watermelons) he was an ardent Wesleyan Methodist and regularly attended a round of religious functions.  The Sunday school that he taught, he took very seriously and confessed at one place that "it requires a person of pretty firm muscle to manage a Sunday school of youngsters." 

Floy is Versatile 

In spite of this arduous religious life, he treats it in such a way that in Mr. Brooks' words, "his diary will contribute toward a reestimate of the Puritan as portrayed by writers at the end of the century."   He was enormously susceptible to women, and having spontaneously proposed to a Miss Deborah S. from Poughkeepsie he spends several years disengaging himself.  Besides all this, he was a voracious reader of anything from the Bible to Byron, and an amateur mathematician, musing on tibei ical trigonometry and geometric proportion, and an active member of the Anti-Slavery Association.

 The diary is a delightfully frank expose of his moods, activities, and the changing state of his health. It seems quaint in some places, amazingly contemporary in others. Even in 1833 the price of travel from New York to Poughkeepsie was $1.50.

Vassar Miscellany News, Volume XXVI, Number 5, 8 October 1941

Not especially related to this story but I liked this illustration of the Sailors Snug Harbor.

1880 - Valentine Hicks Hallock, Seedsman

I was digging for the Boston seedsman M. B. Faxon on the web tonight when an ad on the following page caught my eye.  I am such a sucker for highly detailed engravings I immediately switched from Faxon to this gent - V.H. Hallock!  I had to write something about him, especially after I found his full name was Valentine Hicks Hallock. 

ad from 1891 - The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine

This is as large as I have it. Not the best quality but readable.  

Note V.H. Hallock's home to the right. 

Below is his son's house.

His son was a respected plant breeder involved in improving  gladioli.

There is nothing like a good obituary to quickly fill in some details of a person's  life.  They also give you a feeling for the times in which he lived.  A comment by the writer was, "He lived and died the consistent life of a gentleman.".

Obituary: Valentine Hicks Hallock
Valentine Hicks Hallock, senior member of the firm of V. H. Hallock & Son, died at his home, Queens, N. Y., April 17, aged 85 years, having been born in 1822 at Milton, N. Y., where his ancestors had lived for 250 years.  

At the time of his death he owned property that had been in his family for 175 years. Mr. Hallock belonged to the Milton community of Quakers, famous for its support of the government during the trying times of the civil war.  From the first he took an advanced position in agriculture and small fruits, also in blooded sheep and cattle.  

Through some dealings with C. L. Allen, of Floral Park, N.Y., he drifted into the bulb business and he was identified with the firm that bore his name for 30 years but took no active part in its affairs. At one time this firm was perhaps the most extensive grower and dealer in bulbs and roots, such as lilies, tuberoses, dahlias, gladioli, etc. 

It was during this time that the firm imported the nucleus of the present strain of Gladious Childsii which was developed into a large and merchantable collection by E. V. Hallock, the junior member of the firm and disposed of by John Lewis Childs, after whom the strain and important varieties were named.

Mr. Hallock was a mechanical engineer of considerable ability and of an inventive turn of mind. At one time he was superintendent of the power, mechanical work, etc., connected with a large Brooklyn warehouse. 

He lived and died the consistent life of a gentleman. He always believed in the integrity of his fellowman and above all he was a good Christian man in every sense of the word.
Funeral services were held April 20, interment at Westbury, N. Y.

These glads, introduced by John Lewis Childs of Floral Park, New York, were developed by Edward V. Hallock, a  son of Valentine Hallock.