1909 - Livingston Seed Co., on Columbus, Ohio's Main Street

Tracking down where this 1909 postcard was drawn was so much fun! 

This very cool postcard has enough clues to allow identifying the seed store as the Livingston Seed Company store. 





The store with "The Union" sign is The Union Clothing Store at the corner of Long and High.  That fits with Livingston's address of 114 High Street.   The lighted arches are wonderful!!

1890 - The Enthusiastic, List Loving Mr. Burr

Charles L. Burr, Seedsman, Springfield, Ohio

I hadn't found a seedsman lately that caught my interest.  Then I bumped into this...

Here is a respected seedsman who was addicted to a sort of shape poem while he dished out good advice and ads!  As the following magazine introduction says, his columns was "full of the right information at the right time".  

While the two pieces above were timeless, most of his work was addressed to concerns of that month in the garden. And every month Burr produced a column that was shaped like a cone.  I love it!

Here are some edited columns.  I pruned them when the column started to have straight sides. They got more into particular care of varieties and less universal in their advice when he used more words. 

 By the way, I added this background color...

This one is a delightful self promotion.

Most of the above pieces by Burr are from Success with Flowers, a Floral Magazine, Volumes 1-2 1890

The basics:

From A General History of the Burr Family, 1878

His father HARVEY BURR, of Champion, Jefferson County, NY m. Mar. 11, 1851, to Florilla Lane, b. June 20, 1832. Their children were Charles L., b. Aug. 22, 1853 ;  Anderson H.," b. July 19, 1856;  Clara E., b. Sept. 16, 1858; Clarence E., b. June 26, 1861 ;Ida May,"b. Dec. 11, 1862; Laura B., b. 1299 Dec. 31, 1868.

CHARLES L. BURR, of Springfield, Massachusetts married Frances E. Adams, of Mt. Hope, N. Y. Their children were Ida May, b. Jan. 26, 1881 ; Estella G., b. Jan. 10, 1883; Harrison H.,  b. Nov. 24, 1884; Charles L., Jr., b. May 26, 1887. Mr. Burr is a practical seedsman and florist, and has established a large and rapidly increasing business at Springfield.

Every Garden a Munition Plant

All the Library of Congress file says is, "Children in the gardens of the National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio".   Whuh?  

This was taken sometime around 1912 to 1922 so it might have something to do with WWI's Victory Gardens. I'll check it out later.

 I think more of these boys would have a smile if they were following this lady in the Sow for Victory poster!