Shaker Seed Company

The Shaker Seed Company was an American seed company that was owned and operated by the Shakers in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, many Shaker communities produced several vegetable seed varieties for sale. The company created innovations in the marketing of seeds – including distributing, packaging and cataloging – all of which changed the horticultural business model forever.

The Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in New Lebanon, New York, was the most successful and the first to use the name Shaker Seed Company in advertising. As its stationery reveals, the company adopted the phrase "Experto crede" as its motto, noting its establishment in 1794.

In August of 1774, nine Shakers from England landed in New York City. In the fall of 1776 they settled in Watervliet, New York. Their religion soon spread throughout the Northeast, and around the year of 1787 a headquarters was established at New Lebanon, New York. By the mid-19th century some eighteen major, long-term settlements Shaker had been established.

The Shakers were avid gardeners who saved the best seeds to cultivate the following year. Historian D. A. Buckingham states that Joseph Turner of Watervliet assigned about two acres of land in 1790 for the purpose of raising vegetable seeds to sell for an income. He is the first known Shaker to package seeds for sale, making him the first American seed salesman. The Watervliet Shakers were the first people in the United States to sell garden seeds commercially. About this same time the Shaker community at New Lebanon began selling their surplus seeds. However, it was not until 1795 that they set aside land for the purpose of seed production for sale to outsiders. Shakers also did this at Canterbury, New Hampshire, and Hancock, Massachusetts.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Shaker seed salesmen were one of the few sources of seeds for the American gardener. Seed sales was one of the Shakers' most successful enterprises, providing the greater portion of their total income. The Shaker seed business stemmed from their rural agricultural roots and sold mostly to small villages and farming communities in the northeastern United States. Their marketing techniques were state of the art. The Shaker Seed Company became known for high quality and fair prices. The Shakers provided useful things – garden seeds – at a time of need for American pioneers.

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