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C. C. Morse
 C.C. Morse
was a pioneer breeder of sweet peas and he established the C. C. Morse
& Co. in 1877. Morse's son Lester L.
Morse, born in 1870, continued the development of the sweet pea, and
authored a book entitled "Field Notes on Sweet Peas." In April 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and fire
destroyed the seed company building along with all contents. At that
time they consolidated their business with the Cox Seed Co. and the Seedhouse of E. J. Bowen. They continued all of the departments of the
Cox company including the nurseries, retail store, catalog mail
business, wholesale department, and commission box department. The 1909 catalog
included numerous photographs of the company offices and
farms. By 1917, they had
sold their nursery department to the Vallance Nursery owned brothers, John and James
Vallance. In 1930, the company was merged
with D. M. Ferry & Company of Detroit, Michigan to become the
Ferry-Morse Seed Company. The Pacific Coast operations were under
the direction of Lester L. Morse. Lester’s son Charles C. Morse
continued the development of flowers. The
Ferry-Morse Seed Company became part of France's Groupe Limagrain in
1981. According to the company, Groupe Limagrain is considered to
be the largest breeder-producer of horticultural seed in the world.
Sources:
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