Happy 200th Anniversary Comstock Seeds!

The 2011 seed catalog celebrates the 200th anniversary of Comstock, Ferre & Co.

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One of the things I find enchanting about the chronicle of buying and selling source in America is how germ was first import from far aside places . fruit and veggie from Spain , baccy from Trinidad , Elmer Leopold Rice from Madagascar , cotton plant from the Bahamas .

In 1780 the first seed family open in Philadelphia . Other seed companies accompany , and in 1811 , Comstock , Ferre & Co. , started concern in Wethersfield , Conn.

The party ’s 2011 come catalog keep its 200th day of remembrance , making it the oldest seed company in New England . And , thanks to the efforts of Jere Gettle and crime syndicate , the company will be around for years to come .

If Jere ’s name sounds conversant , it ’s because he ’s the founding father ofBaker Creek Heirloom Seed Company . The Gettle family purchased Comstock , Ferre & Co. in 2010 with the end of reconstruct this historic seed house to its original condition and offer seed from its former day .

This fresh edition of the catalog include the long andcolorful historyof the troupe and more than 250 heirloom vegetable and flower kind , all over 50 years erstwhile . The seed is purely non - GMO , non - patented , and non - hybrid .

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The catalogue test everything honest-to-goodness is Modern again . Its pages are make full with beautiful colorized photos dating from the 1920s and the old - fashioned seed instance are from the company ’s archive antique seed mail boat . The raise instructions , from the 1933 Comstock , Ferre & Co. catalog , append a lovely bit of horticultural account .

By planting any of these vegetable or flower variety , today ’s gardeners will automatically be link to nurseryman from previous generations .

For example , the ‘ Bonny Best ’ tomato plant is a variety the company offered throughout the thirties . Other love apple , like ‘ Early Red Chief ’ and ‘ Ponderosa ’ were first offer in the late eighties .

‘ Copenhagen Market ’ cabbage was introduced to America about 100 long time ago ; ‘ Black Beauty ’ eggplant was deal as early as 1907 .

Some of the vegetable descriptions admit quotes from other catalogue , like the one from 1885 for ‘ Banana ’ melons : “ When ripe it reminds one of a large , overgrown banana … It smells like one , get a unusually powerful and pleasant-tasting scent . ”

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The 2012 Comstock, Ferre & Co. catalog.

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