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Curtis & Cobb's Unlike other seedsmen represented here, Curtis and Cobb sold “Select Fruits,” including pear trees, apple trees, and grape plants. The description of the Clarke Raspberry, which accompanies a beautiful full-page illustration of the mature plant, is an example of the hyperbolic language companies employed when marketing their products:

Cover for Curtis & Cobb’s Flower and Kitchen Garden Directory...(8 5/8 x 5 ¾ in). Boston: Rand, Avery, & Co., 1872. CLICK TO ENLARGE

Wood engravings for Curtis & Cobb’s Flower and Kitchen Garden Directory...(8 5/8 x 5 ¾ in). Boston: Rand, Avery, & Co., 1872. CLICK EITHER IMAGE TO ENLARGE

“The Clarke Raspberry is acknowledged to be the best yet introduced. Fruit, of the largest size; color, bright crimson; superior in flavor to the Hornet, Antwerp, Falstaff, or any other variety. The plant is perfectly hardy without winter protection. It is productive: six hundried [sic] berries were counted at one time on a single cane, planted the same season. It is highly recommended by Marshal P. Wilder and other eminent pomologists.”