Fertile soil and abundant water made Shenandoah an ideal place to start nurseries, where early pioneers found that fruit trees from other parts of the United States grew well beside native wild plum and crab apple trees. D.S. Lake, considered the father of the nursery industry in southwest Iowa, founded Lake's Shenandoah Nursery in 1870 with stock brought from Illinois. T.E.B. Mason established Mount Arbor Nurseries in 1875, and E. S. Welch bought that nursery in 1892 and developed it into one of the largest wholesale nurseries in the nation, supplying retailers such as Burpees [sic], Montgomery Ward, and Earl May. Henry Field began his nursery career at age five with fifty cents worth of homegrown flower seed, sent out his first catalog in 1899 as a four page folder he printed himself, built his first seed house in 1902, and expanded into an enormous mail-order company before the advent of radio. Earl May, who learned the nursery business from his father-in-law E. S. Welch, started his own retail and catalog business in 1919, and his use of radio advertising quickly put his company on par with Field's enterprise. By 2000, that company was still operated by a branch of the May family and maintained 54 retail stores offering nursery and landscaping products. Shenandoah became known as the Seed and Nursery Capital of the World, and other local nurseries included Ratekin's Seed House, J. C. Welch Nursery, Iowana Nursery Jackson Nursery, Farmers' City Nursery, and Armstrong Seed Company.