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INTRODUCTION.

OFFICE OF PAGE & KELSEY,
Des Moines, Iowa, January, 1884.

To all lovers of beautiful flowers and good palatable vegetables, we present this our first Annual Catalogue of Seeds, Plants, and everything needful for the flower and vegetable garden, and in doing so we give cordial, friendly greeting and are resolved by earnest, honest effort, for our mutual benefit, to merit and receive your lifetime friendsbip and patronage.
It has been beautifully said that the seed is that link in the chain of vegetable existence which connects the old and new plant; were this destroyed, were nature to fail in her operation of perfecting the seed, what a change would the earth soon exhibit! One year would sweep away the whole tribe of annual plants; beautiful flowers, medicinal herbs, and our most important grains for the sustenance of man and beast, would vanish for ever. Another year would take from us many of our most useful garden vegetables, and
greatly reduce the number of our ornamental plants. Year after year the perennials would vanish, until the earth would present one vast scene of vegetable ruin. The ancient pines and venerable oaks, instead of the smiling aspect of ever renovating nature which they now witness, would stand alone in solitary grandeur, the mournful remains of a once beautiful and fertile world.
"Lo! on each seed, within its slender rind,
Life's golden threads in endless circles wind;
Maze within maze the lucid webs are rolled,
And as they burst, the living flame unfold.
Grain within grain, successive harvests dwell,
And boundless forests slumber in a shell."
We will do our part to prevent so sad a scene as our earth dismantled of vegetation. The three conditions of success, are, first good seed; second, good soil and cultivation; third, vivifying sunshine and refreshing showers. The first we are bound to supply, for the second we look to our patrons, and for the third to an overruling providence.
Thus God ordains; t'is beautiful, sublime,
Our mutual efforts, interests to combine,
In work so blessed human and divine.
We start out this season with one of the choicest and best selected stocks of Flower and Vegetable Seeds, that has ever been offered by any Seed House. Our stock is entirely new, we have not an ounce of old seed in the bouse, and consequently onr customers can be doubly sure of being pleased, and satisfied with those purchased of us. You will readily see that, besides the principle at stake, we cannot afford to sell you anything of a doubtfnl character, because our reputation would suffer thereby.
As is well known, Des Moines is one of the principal railroad points of the West, there being 13 railroads centering here, and our shipping facilities are unsurpassed. While our store and greenhouses are near enough to the post-office and depots so that we get our mail several times a day, and can fill all orders promptly, still we are saved an enormous expense in rents, etc., by being a little remote from the business center of the city, and, therefore, we can afford to, and do, sell seeds and plants at a less profit, and cheaper than others can.
Our greenhouse trade was established in 1875, by Mr. Kelsey, who is a practical florist, not only in the growing of plants, for the local trade, but also in the mail plant trade, and in all branches of Floral Work and Decorations. We have this season erected a suitable building for a seed store, and put in a full supply of all kinds of Flower, Vegetable, and Field seeds. This department will be conducted under the supervision of Chas. N. Page, who has had seven years experience in all branches of the seed business, in the largest seed store in this State.