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Burnet Landreth
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Burnet
Landreth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in
1842. He was the son of David
Landreth, Jr. Burnet became the third generation to
run the company after his father's passing in 1880.
Burnet
became chief of the Bureau of Agriculture of the U. S.
Centennial International Exhibition at Philadelphia in
1876. In 1878, he declined President Hayes’ offer of
Commissioner of Agriculture. He was the author of "Market Garden and Farm Notes"
(1892), and articles in horticultural journals. |
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 He
was a partner in the business until it was incorporated in 1904
as the D. Landreth Seed Company, and was the president of the
corporation until his death in 1928.
The Landreth
family managed the seed company, farms and trial gardens in a direct
paternal line for five generations spanning spanned three centuries.
An amazing feat.
In
1942, the D. Landreth Seed Company was sold to Supplee-Biddle Hardware
Company of Philadelphia. This company later sold to the Robert
Buist Seed Company.
It
was eventually sold to the Goldberg family, moved to Baltimore,
Maryland, where it continued to be operated under the name of the D. Landreth
Seed Company. The company, however, ceased breeding its own seeds
years prior and according to the then company president, Ben Goldberg,
only sold wholesale to nurseries, greenhouses, hardware stores and other
mass merchandising outlets from Maine to Texas. This type of
operation continued into at least the late 1990s. (Exact information
unavailable.)
It appears
that there is an attempt at resurrecting the "brand" as a mail order
seed name. From a letter sent out to past customers, the D. Landreth Seed Company name was
purchased by
Peter and
Barbara Melera, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology
and a venture capitalist, respectively.
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"Bloomsdale Seed
Farm," near Bristol
"On the Delaware River 20 miles above Philadelphia, is "Bloomsdale,"
the home of Burnet Landreth, of the firm of David Landreth & Sons, the
oldest seed-growing establishment in this country, founded in 1784.
Mansion erected 1752. The Arboretum is one of the finest in the United
States." |
Sources:
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