1896 - A. T. Cook's Cinnamon Vine

This turned out to be more interesting than I thought!!  This vine is handsome, huge and covered with weird little potato like tubers (although I don't know if both male and female plants have them).  Go to the Apios Institute page to see some great photos from several people and their comments.  The large tuber was found by one person at an Asian food store.  

A beautiful and rapid climber possessing the rare quality of emitting from its flowers the delightful odor of cinnamon, and very appropriately called the "Cinnamon Vine." 

The plants are grown from bulbs or roots and are very nice for window ornaments, or out-door culture. They are perfectly hardy; the stem dying down every autumn, but growing again in the spring so rapidly as to completely cover any trellis or arbor very early in the season.  The vines often run 25 feet or more, and when trained over and about a door or window make an ornament much admired: while its many clusters of delicate white flowers sends out an amount of fragrance that is truly wonderful. 

It is easy to cultivate, has no insect enemies, and is not affected by drouth because it roots so deeply.  The tubers are called "Chinese Yams;" (the botanical name being Dioscorea Batatas); they increase in size from year to year, are often two feet long at two or three years of age, and run straight down in deep soil;— flesh whiter than superfine flour and equally as good for table use as the very best potatoes. 

When first introduced the roots sold for $10.00 each. I have now grown this vine for 7 years; and have sent out many to every section of the country, and the only verdict is,—

"One of the most desirable climbers in cultivation." 

J. P. RUNG, Tyrone, Pa., says:—"The vine has grown about eighteen feet, and was very full ol bloom, with a delicious odor, scenting the air for a long distance. The foliage is very much admired." 

J. WILSON. Mechanicsvllle, Pa. Nov. 27th. 1889, writes:—"We think the Cinnamon Vine is one -of the most desirable house plants for winter: it blooms as freely in the house as out doors, and they can be trained over and around a window, and will fill a room with a delightful fragrance in the cold and dreary winter months." 

JAS. E. BADJER; Jr., St. Joseph, Mo., says:—The Cinnamon Vine is a success. From one stem a dozen branches have started, ranging from twelve to twenty feet each, and blooming profusely; very fragrant. 

PRICES OF THE CINNAMON VINE :  Having grown an enormous stock of the finest roots I can this year reduce my former low rates— one-half.   Now is the time to order them. I will mail 5 nice roots or tubers for 25 cents; 12 for 50 cents ; 25 for $1.00; 100 for $2.50, (no order filled for less than 5 roots.)   I pack carefully in boxes, and guarantee safe arrival.

A. T. Cook - Good Advice on More Than Seeds

Thirty-six temperance postcards were published by A. T. Cook, Seedsman, Hyde Park, New  York.  



The majority were designed by the artist  J. O. Hulbert.  
When I was posting the large images I noticed Hulbert was from Glastonbury, the next town over from where I work in Connecticut...cool....

Temperance postcards were widely distributed by the Women's Christian Temperance 
Union in the 19th and early 20th centuries to attack the liquor trade.

I found a few on eBay, and the CardCow has a ton more.  Finding Cook's name on them is sometimes a bit of a "Where's Waldo" game.  

1905 - A. T. Cook's Charmingly Folksy Post Card

Cruising eBay I found this quirky little postcard which caught my attention.  I haven't seen A. T. Cook's ads or advertising materials before.  He wasn't a big seed dealer but he did make a name for himself in another way. More about that later.  Today, just enjoy this!



Here is the back.

1908 - Cover Art from Miss Emma White's Seed Catalog

It is February 20, 2016.   It was 60º F. outside today!!

I am done with winter even though I fear it is not done with Connecticut...but who knows?! 

Anyway, I am in the mood for flowers and I just found this lithographed cover from Miss Emma White at the MERTZ DIGITAL COLLECTIONS.  I love the stippling.

Join me in dreaming of summer :-)

1887 - Accolades for Mr. Livingston

This article re-visits the redoubtable Mr. Livingston, a man who features highly in tomato history. It is always nice to find a man who was honored in his lifetime.  For more interesting information  check out this group of posts.

Back when I was discovering his story I hadn't seen this particular piece from Gardening magazine that looks back on Mr. Livingston's accomplishments from the perspective of 1897, a few decades since his beginning to change the tomato world.  


(Speaking of "a few more decades", I have included this article in clearer type from an OCR version at the end of this page for people with eyesight like mine!)

We are in the habit of indulging in hearty congratulations over the advanced conditions of our modern horticulture.   Such effusions are as cheap as they are appropriate. But it is well, now and then, to take a look backward and recall some of those to whom the goddess of horticulture is indebted for her present exalted position. 

When we do this, we discover that the number who have put forth earnest, systematic and persistent efforts to the real foundation work in horticulture is not large, nor have such always been most rewarded.  We owe a tribute of praise to every worker who has spent years of patient care and selection in seeking to improve the products of our orchards and gardens.  It is this sort of work that really builds up horticulture, and this class of workers that most deserves our recognition and encouragement. 

Mr. A. W. Livingston of Des Moines, Iowa, whose portrait appears on this page, emphatically belongs to this class of horticultural workers, and his successful labors in improving the tomato have made his name well-known to those who are interested in gardening.   Indeed, to him we are indebted for many of our best market tomatoes.   The introduction of the Paragon, Mr. Livingston‘s first success (about t867), may be said to have marked an era in the culture of the tomato. 

Previous to that time we scarcely possessed a variety of this fruit suitable for extensive shipping, and few varieties were sufficiently smooth and solid to make them worthy of culture, even in the family garden.   But since the dissemination of the Paragon, Acme, Perfection and Favorite, all Mr. Livingston's productions, the tomato has rapidly increased in importance, until it now ranks among our prominent market and garden products.   

Mr. Livingston was born in the year 1821, in Franklin County, 0., a few miles from the city of Columbus. The surrounding country was then a wilderness, and his parents were able to give him few advantages.   After the age of ten years his schooling was limited to a few winters, and when he attained his majority he hired out at such work as came to hand “by the day, job or any other way."  He soon married and rented a farm, on which he lived eleven years, during which time he was able to save sufficient to purchase 50 acres for himself, and soon commenced the culture of garden seeds. 

Even before this time, he had begun to turn his attention to improving the tomato. To use his own words, “ I commenced selecting the smooth specimens, and after fifteen years of untiring effort, I found myself no nearer my object of getting a perfect tomato than when I began. my plan and selected from smooth dwarf varieties, having a certain peculiar kind of seed, with no rough fruits on the vine, and by careful selection, in five years, I was able to send out a fine, large, smooth. red tomato, that bears not a single rough fruit, which I named the ‘ Paragon.'" 

Those who have attempted to develop new varieties of fruit or vegetables will be able to appreciate something of the patience required to continue one's efforts for twenty consecutive years before sufficient success is attained to warrant an introduction. Contrast this with the record of some of our seedsmen.   Instead of patiently working in their own grounds to produce superior new varieties and refusing to introduce a sort that has not sterling merit,  they have grasped at novelties wherever they could find them and have pushed them industriously.   A comparison of the Turk’s Cap and President Garfield tomatoes with any of Mr. Livingston's offers a case in point.

The Paragon was soon followed by the Acme, a tomato of equally regular form with a purplish red skin.  By this time it was apparent that a tougher skin was demanded for shipping purposes, and the Perfection was developed to satisfy this want.   The Favorite was offered as having special value for canning, owing to the solidity of its flesh and the fewness of its seeds.   Mr. Livingston’s more recent introductions are in any sense superior to the Perfection and Favorite.   The color of the Beauty is extremely brilliant, however, while its quality is probably unsurpassed among the purplish red tomatoes.  

For many years Mr. Livingston’s introductions were regarded as standards among tomatoes and they are still in high esteem.   During the last few years many valuable sorts have been put out by other parties, some of which bear too close a resemblance to the Perfection and Favorite to be regarded as distinct.

We think that Mr. Livingston merits the recognition of progressive horticulturists for his persevering efforts to secure new varieties of real merit.   To say that a seed grower has introduced half a dozen or more novelties is not particularly to his credit, but to say that he has originated some truly valuable acquisitions, and that he spent twenty years on the first, is to make him eminently worthy of our esteem.

12/5/1905 - Postcard of the F.B. Mills Seed House in Rose Hill, New York

The writing on this postcard makes it special to me.  I didn't know about the "company boarding house".  I assume for workers of the F.B. Mills company?  Have to find out!

Seedsman Mr. Mills Moves, and Then His Building Moves

This was a fun post to find information for because what I found was so darned unexpected!!

Frank Mills opened a western distribution center in Washington, Iowa in addition to his Rose Hill, New York Fair View seed farm.

I found the building has its own Facebook page!  The story of what a dedicated group of people are doing with the building makes interesting reading.

Here is the building on the move in 2014.  You'll find more of the story on their Facebook page.