Historical Seed Catalogs: The Wing Seed Co (1918) – 55 in a series
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INTRODUCTION
ONCE MORE it is our pleasure to greet customers, both old and new, and to wish them the best of every- thing for the coming year.The past year has been such a busy one with us, that we cannot resist the temptation of telling you a little about it. To begin with, our business started out about as usual in January and the first half of February. About the middle of February, orders began coming nicely, and presently we found that our regular force was unable to take care of them. We doubled the force and finally trebled it. Even then, we were unable to quite keep up with our orders. Doubtless, some of you waited several days while we were filling. Practically our entire force worked taking care of orders. We worked overtime every day, and we worked Sun- days for about six weeks.
We are sorry that we kept anybody waiting a single day, and do not think this will happen again, because we are much better equipped now to handle a large amount of business than we were a year ago. But, on the other hand, we are very glad indeed to have had this nice lot of business, and wish to thank you for it.
As soon as the rush of orders was over, we put Out our Trial Grounds as usual, and all summer trained men have carefully studied every flower and vegetable that we sell. In this manner, we are able to keep in touch with the best of everything, to compare different strains of vegetables, and all sorts of new things, both in flowers and vegetables. It costs a good deal of money to do this, but we know of no other way to secure the results that we are now getting.
As a result of Trial Ground’s work, we are, this year, cataloguing two remarkable new varieties of Lettuce, Ohio Grand Rapids and Just-In-Head, as well as several other items of only a little less importance.
Our work in the flowers has been a continual delight. Space does not permit us to dwell on the many hundred va- rieties which we are listing, but we believe that we have a collection now of as choice varieties as can be found any? where. We have searched all of America as well as Europe for these things, and we are proud of the entire collec- tion. Our assortment of Gladioli is now one of the largest in the United States. The same thing may be said of our Iris and Peonies, and there are very few collections of Dahlias that are larger than ours. The past season has been ex- cellent for growing these bulbs, and we are indeed gratified with their appearance this fall.
The only serious disappointment that we have this season is in European^ vegetable seeds, and even in these we are reasonably well prepared, because last year we placed very heavy contracts in Europe, expecting to receive small de- liveries. We did receive even smaller deliveries than we expected, but even so, there was enough so that in many items we can furnish the highest quality of European stock, and we believe that our critical trade will appreciate this.
Our Bulb Department has been growing so nicely that it now requires quite a little land. This fall we have pur- chased a farm for the purpose of growing bulbs, and we now have planted perhaps twelve acres of Bearded Iris, a smaller amount of Japanese, and perhaps five acres of Peonies. We will also have, next year,^ a few acres of Gladioli, and prob- ably ten acres of Dahlias. This farm is located just outside the village of Mechanicsburg, on the Mechanicsburg and West Jefferson pike. Throughout the season we will be very glad to have visitors inspect these crops, and we hope in a few year’s time to have a very beautiful sight in these fields of blooming flowers.
Our Trial Grounds are situated right at the Seed House, and here we will be glad to show visitors our hundreds of tests of vegetables, annual flowers, etc.
We can be reached by rail, by changing at Springfield, Delaware, Milford Center, or by Auto Bus from Urbana.
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