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Survival of the Best Seeds,
Techniques, and Marketing
Early on, the Shakers bought seed from outside sources and mixed
it with their own. After considering what might occur if they obtained
poor seed, they made a sincere covenant in 1819 to only sell seed raised
by their community, “lest there should come loss upon the joint interest
and dishonor upon the gospel.” Curiously, their covenant applied to all
seeds except melons.
Shaker ingenuity ensured the success of the garden seed industry.
Many of their innovations influenced how later seed companies would
raise, store, and market seeds. Several of their inventions are recognizable
to today’s gardener, such as the seed envelope. Shakers are believed to
be the first to employ envelopes for seed storage. The women of the
community took on the tasks of cutting, folding, pasting, and labeling
seed envelopes and bags. Shaker Ebenezer Alden invented a “printing
box” to print planting instructions on the outside of seed envelopes. In
1836, 150,000 bags were printed.
The Shakers also issued garden manuals, a precursor to today’s
Historic American Buildings Survey, C. C. Adams, Photographer August 1931, garden catalogs and magazines. In 1836, Charles F. Crossman printed
SEED PACKING ROOM, Gift of New York State Department of Education. - the first Shaker “gardener’s manual,” which today provides a glimpse at
Shaker North Family Washhouse (first), Shaker Road, New Lebanon, Columbia the range of seeds the Shakers produced, with six varieties each of beans
County, NY. Labeled bins include “Black Winter Squash” and “Turnip Radish” and beets, five varieties of cabbage, six varieties of lettuce, four varieties
of squash and many others. Exotic offerings, such as saffron, were also
raised at a value of $33,901. Soon, other communes took up the included. In addition to serving as a catalog, the Shaker garden manuals
practice of selling seeds. The Enfield, CT, community dedicated 100 featured advice for selecting a garden site, preparing the ground,
acres of their land to seed production alone. For many years, the sale of constructing a hot bed, dealing with pests, preserving vegetables for
seeds provided substantial income to many Shaker communities, and winter and cooking tips.
the Shakers’ techniques and marketing were considered pioneering
for the time. “Shaker Seed” became synonymous with high quality and
fair prices.

Gardens Tended with Insight and Culling

Label on wooden display box of Shaker seeds, c. 1870

Garden seed box stenciled on front, “Shaker Garden Seeds,”
North Family, Mount Lebanon, NY Seed distribution depended upon the Shaker seed peddler, a
commune member who traveled to small communities and outlying
areas in a horse-drawn wagon selling seed. Shaker seed was sent
Much of the early success of the Shaker seed industry occurred
because they were among the first to offer garden seed for sale. throughout the United States, reaching into the Deep South, and some
seed was even sent to Europe and Canada. Following strict Shaker guide-
Previously, farmers had obtained seed from their own crops from year lines for quality, any seed that went unsold was promptly discarded.
to year and traded excess seed with their neighbors. The Shakers began Many elements of gardening have changed since the era of Shaker
their seed business when America’s frontier was still rapidly expanding, seed peddlers on country roads, yet there are still many of us who feel
and as more people obtained their own plots of land, the demand for the way one Shaker did when asked why his community took such
garden seed increased. The Shakers’ penchant for providing useful pains to care for the garden, “Ah… thee sees we love our garden.”
things eagerly met this demand.
Producing seed for sale fit in with the other agricultural pursuits of
the Shakers. The Shakers’ agricultural practices stood out from the
neighboring farmers of the day. Travelers could distinguish Shaker
gardens by their neat tillage and sturdy stone fences. Men and women
held equal status in Shaker communities, and both worked at garden
tasks. Shakers rotated agricultural duties often, so that each member of Seed packet for
the community could better learn his or her own talents. Shakers also tomato, Second
looked to gardening as a religious ritual. As contemporary observer Family, Mount
Hepworth Dixon noted, Shakers believed that “if you would have a Lebanon, NY
lovely garden, you should have a lovely life.” With such importance
placed on gardening, it comes as no surprise that Shaker seeds were of
a high quality. The Shakers were quite aware that the reputation of
their seeds was a reflection of their community. If they were to
sell poor-quality seed, the outside world might ridicule not only their
product, but also their beliefs.
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