Practical Floriculture: A Guide to the Successful Cultivation of Florists' Plants, for the Amateur and Professional Florist

Orange Judd Company, 1874. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/No Dustjacket . A light to moderate moderate bump to upper corners of cover and several pages; previous owner bookplate. Bound in green cloth with gilt titles and front decoration. "Up to the appearance of this work all American books on floriculture had been written strictly for the amateur, Practical Floriculture being the first one which treated the subject with a view to its commercial relations". With information on designs, planting, soils, cold frames, modes of heating, propagation by seeds and cuttings, culture of the rose, lillies, verbena, orchid culture, window gardening, packing plants, plants by mail, how to become a florist, and much more. Henderson, Peter (1822-1890) was born in Scotland in 1822. He came to America in 1843, and worked under Grant Thorburn and Robert Buist. Henderson began as a market gardener in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1847. During the Civil War he moved his floral business to South Bergen. By 1890 he had five acres covered by glass. Henderson’s contemporaries called him the father of horticulture and ornamental gardening in the United States. In 1865 he published Gardening for Profit, the first book written on market gardening in the United States. He followed with Practical Floriculture in 1868. In 1871 he established a seed company called Peter Henderson & Company. The company developed vegetables and flowers suited to American conditions. A longtime Jersey City resident and an accomplished entrepreneur, Peter viewed himself as a seedsman, who gradually developed an interest in ornamental gardening. Henderson's gardening firm and catalog company based in Jersey City and New York lasted over a hundred years. His writings contributed to the community of gardeners worldwide and advanced the science of horticulture.