Prince, Robert–Flushing Landing, New York–Linnaean Botanic Garden (William Prince & Sons, Linnaean Botanic Garden and Nurseries)--Founded the Prince Nursery in 1737.  It operated for 130 years, until about 1865.  It was the first major commercial nursery in the United States.  It was responsible for importing plants from Europe and sending American plants abroad.  The nursery was also breeders of fruits and roses, a leader in perfecting growing techniques, and the first to advertise ornamentals in a big way.  It produced most of the grafted apple, pear and cherry trees that could be found in the early Northeastern orchards.  They also trained many of the early nurserymen.  During the Revolutionary War, the British General Lord Howe ordered the protection of the Prince Garden and Nursery.  Over 10,000 grafted cherry trees had to be sold to be used in barrel manufacturing during the war.  After the war the orchard had to be rebuilt. In 1789 President George Washington visited the nursery.  The first know advertisement of the nursery was dated September 21, 1767.   The nursery’s earliest catalog was published in 1771 and was a broadside featuring a large selection of fruit trees. In 1827, the nursery contained more than a hundred species of Australian plants, and a year later it had more than 600 kinds of roses. Into the middle of the 19th century, the Prince Nursery was the largest and best American establishment of its kind.
Sources:  Plants; GT; Hedrick; Wright