Resumé de quelques notes prisés sur les cultures faites par W. C. Wilson, florist, Astoria, Long Islande-City, Quenne [that is, Queens] County, N.Y., Etats-Unis d'Amérique

Collection — Volume: Col-1088

Identifier: Col-1088

Scope and Contents

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Anonymous manuscript describing the W. C. Wilson nursery in Astoria, Queens, written chiefly in French with ink text and pencil drawings. Wilson's nursery was located on two large parcels of land at Steinway Avenue in Astoria, and this description documents its facilities and plant stock in detail. The work is divided into three sections: a description of the nursery's greenhouses and the plants in each; a discussion of ornamental borders, including 10 drawings of designs for these; and a transcription of an instructional text plus examples for the writing of business correspondence. The first two sections are in French, the third in English. The creator of the volume may have been a traveling seed or nursery salesperson, as supported by ancillary material in the volume including a wholesale price list of roses offered to the London nursery Wm. Paul & Sons; another price list of roses offered to Mr. Geo. W. Wilson, dated July 6, 1885; and a short address list of contacts in the trade, primarily with addresses in Baltimore and Baltimore County but with at least one in New York (Brooklyn Nursery, 229 W. Pratt St).

Scope and Contents

The first, untitled section (30 pages) describes the contents, layouts, and temperatures of 31 sizable greenhouses ("serres," with numbered descriptions of each). Plants cultivated therein are listed and include many named varieties of palms, roses, camellias, bedding plants and ornamental annuals, bulbs, and plants grown for seed production. The second part of this section, "Pépinière et Jardin," describes plants grown for seasonal sale by the retail trade, for example lilies of the valley, pansies, and violets, as well as a separate list of 24 varieties of rose. Following this section is a long list of plants imported by Wilson from nurseries in Savannah, Georgia, France, and England; and "Epoque de multiplication de differentes plantes," an alphabetized listing of plants which includes times of year for their propagation and ideal growing temperatures.

Scope and Contents

The second section, "La Mosaïculture" (14 pages), treats ornamental borders fashionable in garden design of the period, covering site selection and preparation, considerations on color harmony and color families, and a list of appropriate plants. Following the text is a series of 10 drawn plans for bedding designs, each with a numbered key detailing specific plants to be used. No. 6 is drawn on a paper overlay which has been pasted in, perhaps correcting the original design. No. 10 includes a note beneath: "L'ensemble doit être plus long pour donnera de l'[élégance?] au dessin [the arrangement should be longer in order to give [elegance?] to the design]."

Scope and Contents

The third section, "Advise. Business Letters" (19 pages), is an instructional text on the writing of business correspondence, with example letters for a variety of business occasions throughout. Addresses on some of the examples include Baltimore, Maryland, and Woodside, Long Island, New York.

Scope and Contents

Additional manuscript material includes two price lists and a list of addresses, as described above; these appear at end of the volume, upside-down. A transcription of Adolphe Adam's "Noël" (1 page, in French) appears on the fourth page following the first section; and the religious poem "No Sect in Heaven" (9 pages, in English) appears on the fourth page following the list of addresses.

Dates

Creation: 1885

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Full Extent

1 Volumes (approximately 230 pages, 78 manuscript pages) : 10 bedding designs in pencil ; 9 inches

Language of Materials

French

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

License: This record is made available under an Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license.

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased for $1700 from Palinurus Antiquarian Books, September 2023.

Physical Description

Ruled commercial notebook, bound in tan diagonal ribbed cloth, with blackletter initial "B" stamped on covers. Blue decorated endpapers, all edges red. Spine imperfect. Blank pages interleave each manuscript section; the volume contains 78 pages of manuscript total, written in one to two hands; occasional marginalia and minor in-text amendments appear throughout.