Catalogue and Price List of the Snow Hill Nurseries Near Snow Hill, Md. [...] Worcester Co., Md

Milford, Delaware: Chronicle Print. [nd. ca. 1890s?] 28pp. Pamphlet. 8vo. Printed and illustrated wrappers; stitched. Illustration cuts including an advertisement. Front wrap with irregular paper loss to one margin affecting portion of ornamental border, closed tear; rear wrap with corner loss in un-printed area; vertical crease to all leaves; text within clean and free of defects; fair.

Fruit tree nursery trade catalog with a focus on apples and peaches issued by Snow Hill Nurseries of Worcester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Beginning in the 1840s, peach growing was an important industry in Delaware and Maryland. By 1890, there were more than 4,000,000 peach trees in Delaware alone. Snow Hill's catalog includes over 60 varieties of peaches, arranged here according to 14 separate "ripenings" during the growing season, from June to late October.

Popular peach varieties-some with local or regional names-include: Wilkins' Early (Kent Co., Md.), Christiana, Shipley's Late Red, Chair's Choice (Arundel Co., Md.), Brandywine, Townsend, Newington Free (Maryland), and Bilyeu's Late October (Maryland).

Featured within the section on peaches is a description of fruit drying or "evaporation." On the final page, there is a full-page ad for "Grier's Patent 'Champion' Fruit Evaporator," manmufactured and sold by Geo. S. Grier of Milford, Delaware, proprietor of Grier's Foundery & Machine Shops. An illustration cut shows the machine installed on three levels of a building: a coal heating furnace at the bottom, drying racks and an attendant on the next level, and, at the top, the ventilator.

"The advantages to be derived from the use of the evaporator, if only for the saving of cull fruit, are too evident to need any explanation. The best machine under test, is what the fruit grower needs. If it is not convenient for you to give this machine an inspection personally, send for catalogue of description and testimonials and read what those who have used it say."

One additional illustration cut, a wood engraving on the back cover, shows the "Delaware Red Winter Apple."

Other fruit trees and plants in the catalog include over 55 varieties of apples and 11 varieties of crab apples, plus pears, cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines. quinces, "Hardy Native Grapes", blackberries, raspberries, currants, strawberries, etc. Also included are hedge plants and ornamentals such as arborvitæ, chestnut trees, buckeyes, and some miscellaneous vegetables.

A diagram at the beginning shows how to space and arrange a one-acre apple orchard; later table shows the number of trees or plants per acre, set at given distances in feet.

OCLC records only three physical copies for any Catalogue years.