Friday 12 March 2010

Postcard Friendship Friday

Are you considering when to put in your first early potatoes?  Has the ground warmed up yet?  Well apparently Crome and Taylor's manure is the thing.  From a small basket to a HUGE pile, they will increase.  At least that is what my Great Grandmother Winifred Swindlehurst says on this card.  The family farmed at Hazelslack Tower and she says "I have been a customer of yours for many years and I am able to state that the Fertilizers I  have bought of you, from time to time, have proved most beneficial in their effects. This year I have had a splendid crop."

I wonder if they were provided with a lot of these cards for this one was sent to my Grandmother, also called Winifred, from her sister. The family consisted of 11 girls and 1 boy.


 It was posted on January 5, 1912 and it says "Dear Winnie, Just a card to tell you, to let me know, what day and what time you land at Arnside, then I will try to meet you, from your affectionate sister Lucy".  Lucy is probably referring to the nearest railway station to Milnthorpe which would be Arnside.  I don't know what my Grandmother was doing in North Rode, which is a village in Cheshire, about 100 miles away, perhaps working at The Creamery, she could turn her hand to anything, and would be about 20 years of age at this time.

I think Crome and Taylor were a large fertilizer company but they no longer exist, according to Company House, being dissolved in 1990.


but large crops were their selling point, another of their cards, but with the eulogy on the back and a man surveying his crop. I also found on the web one of their invoices from 1900

Look at that heading paper.  Nowadays if someone was selling fertilizer it would probably portray some rural idyll but for Crone & Taylor it was the chimneys of industry that denoted progress and the scientific basis of their fertilizer.


Happy Postal Friendship Friday, the meme is in full swing over at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.
    

10 comments:

Beth Niquette said...

What a wonderful post! I thoroughly enjoyed each postcard and every word.

Happy PFF!

Christine H. said...

This is indeed wonderful. I love old advertising postcards.

Christine H. said...

P.S. I'm so sorry they're no longer in business. Where will I go now to find 10 gallons of sheep dip?

Postcardy said...

I love old advertising postcards. I wonder how much manure it took to grow that big pile of potatoes.

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

A very interesting post! Love that you had family stories to go with your postcards. And I just love the beautiful, flowing penmanship that seemed so prevalent in that time.

My hubby's grandfather was one of 23 children (and none were multiple births!) They helped out on the surrounding sugar plantations in Hawaii, as well as, around the house.

Blessings & Aloha!
Thank you so much for stopping by. It was fun to find your comment. :o) Come back any time.

Irene said...

Wow, all those potatoes! I'll have to see if their competitor is in business, my garden needs help. Happy PFF

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

How times have changed! The invoice heading would now be used as something to persuade you to go green

Mary said...

So interesting. I have a current manure advertising postcard but it isn't nearly as interesting. Something about black and white making manure seem more approachable!

Legacy of Love said...

A potato will never taste the same again.
Great p.card
God Bless
julie

Lyneen said...

Very interesting... Hmmmm what a lot of manure!!!! It is sad to see companies that have made it 100 years go out of business. Happy PFF !