Mrs. Robert Peary Rose. Entitled: "The Dingee & Conard Co., Our new guide to rose culture, West Grove, Pennsylvania, 1899." In 1862 Charles Dingee and Alfred Conrad founded the Dingee & Conrad Nursery, a commercial grower of fruit trees, roses and other nursery products. In 1867 they began propagating roses under a new system introduced by Antoine Wintzer, the head nurseryman, and a world-class hybridizer. Conard conceived the idea of disposing of their rose stock through the mail. Their first catalog offered bedding plants, shrubbery, bulbs, seeds, and roses. In the late 1880s the West Grove Post Office was the second largest in Chester County, Pennsylvania, mostly due to the volume of nursery products shipped by Dingee & Conrad. 1892 Conard separated from Dingee and along with Wintzer joined with S. Morris Jones. The new company continued with the growing and distribution of roses and flowering plants. Much of the farmland acquired by Jones became part of Conard-Pyle a leading horticultural innovator, which has been based in West Grove for over 150 years.